Angry that a man challenged his authority, a federal officer in Arizona deployed his Taser on the man while he pumped gasoline into his truck — setting him ablaze over an alleged misdemeanor.
The incident occurred on July 16, and two videos captured it: one from a witness and another from the victim himself.
Chuck Coyl suffered first- and second-degree burns to his left hand and both wrists, plus nerve damage to his pinky and ring fingers.
His crime? U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officer P. Nielsen had accused him of trespassing on Havasu National Wildlife Refuge while he fished with a friend.
Coyl told local media that he and his friend left the area after Nielsen ordered them out of a fishing spot on the refuge called Catfish Paradise — an area supposedly open to the public.
They drove for about 20 minutes before reaching a gas station on the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation, where Coyl bought two sodas and began pumping gas into his truck.
Then Nielsen pulled up, Taser in hand, ordered Coyl to get on the ground, and demanded his identification.
“What am I being arrested for?” Coyl asked.
“You are not cooperating, having committed a crime,” Nielsen replied.
“What, a misdemeanor?” Coyl responded. “A misdemeanor, asshole! It’s a ten dollar—”
Before Coyl could finish his sentence, Nielsen deployed his Taser, setting Coyl on fire and igniting his truck as well.
Even after Coyl put out the flames on himself, the officer still ordered him to the ground.
“I got burns all over me,” Coyl said as the officer forced him down.
Nielsen scrambled to help as Coyl screamed in pain, but in the confusion, the officer began rolling him toward the burning vehicle instead of away from it.
A bystander quickly spotted the danger and shouted, “It’s on fire, you guys need to move back!”
The warning appeared to startle Nielsen, who snapped back, “Ma’am!” before turning his attention back to Coyl.
Watch video below.
Officer Violated Policy
Local media reported that authorities never cited, charged, or arrested Coyl for the alleged trespassing. He is now preparing to take legal action.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a bureau of the Department of the Interior, told local media that the incident is “under review consistent with DOI policy,” without elaborating further.
Officers reportedly train not to deploy Tasers near gas pumps to avoid exactly this kind of situation, and Department of Interior policy makes that explicit, stating that officers should not use Tasers on “a subject [who] is believed to be contaminated by or otherwise near flammable or explosive materials.”
A second issue looms as well: Nielsen followed Coyl off the federal refuge and onto tribal land — outside his jurisdiction — over an alleged misdemeanor that authorities never even filed.
Coyl said the officer had an attitude from the start, ordering them to stop fishing and leave the area under threat of a trespassing citation.
“He goes, ‘You guys are trespassing. You need to leave now,'” Coyl explained to local media. “I said, ‘OK, fine.’ And he got snotty all of a sudden, and he goes, ‘Well, I’ll give you a ticket.’ And I said, ‘Give me a ticket for trespassing,’ and I got in my truck, and because he said leave, so I got in my truck and left.”
Nielsen apparently made no attempt to pull Coyl over, since Coyl drove for 20 minutes before reaching the gas station, where the aggressive federal officer ultimately confronted him.
“I literally thought, oh, I was going to burn to death and die. I really did,” Coyl said.
Attempts to reach Coyl by phone or email were unsuccessful.
