A video released by New York Attorney General Letitia James on Friday showed two Catskill police officers run out of the station's lobby and close the door behind them after using a stun gun on an agitated man that caused him to burst into flames.
The video is part of an investigation into Oct. 30 incident that led to the death of Jason Jones, 29, the Albany Times-Union reported.
A third police officer also fled the scene of the fatal incident, the video showed. He appeared to stand around the corner of a wall and not rush to help the man on fire in front of him.
The full videos can be viewed on the Attorney General's office website.
Jones had covered himself in hand sanitizer, a flammable product, just moments before the officer fired his taser. He fell to the ground and attempted to put out the flames that covered his head and upper body with his bare hands.
Jones died on Dec. 15 after he spent 47 days on a ventilator in an intensive care unit at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse.
A law enforcement official spoke to the Albany Times-Union and said that officers are trained to not use a taser on an individual who may have been exposed to a flammable liquid, including hand sanitizer, which included alcohol. He added that the officers should have tried to assist Jones after he caught on fire, comparing the situation to pulling a suspect out of a burning car if a crash occurs during a pursuit.
"Once the threat has been stopped, you don't just say, 'I'm going to let that person burn,'" the official said.
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The officer who fired the taser appeared in the video to go back into the room and try to help Jones, who had put out the flames at that point. Jones appears to be in physical pain and distress when speaking with officers on his hands and knees.
A civilian is then seen in the video trying to comfort Jones and stayed with him as the officers were speaking to him and waiting for paramedics. The Albany Times-Union added that the date and time on the video are not accurate, as the incident happened after midnight on Oct. 31
"Jason was unarmed, in the police station, and not threatening anyone when the police hit him with 50,000 volts of electrical current and he ignited," Kevin A. Luibrand, an attorney representing Jones' family, said in response to the release of the video. "Instead of helping Jason, the police ran out the room, shut the door and let him burn."
The Attorney General's Office of Special Investigation said the videos were "redacted camera footage obtained by (the) office in the course of an OSI investigation be released to the public in order to increase transparency and strengthen public trust in these matters."
"The release of this footage is not an expression of any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of any party in a criminal matter or any opinion as to how or whether any individual may be charged with a crime," the office said in a statement.
Police had responded to a reported disturbance at The Avalon Lounge at the corner of Water and Church streets, about 400 feet from the police station.
Greene County District Attorney Joseph Stanzione previously told the Albany Times-Union that Jones left the bar and walked to the police station, where he then got into a confrontation with officers. It's unclear whether the confrontation should have resulted in the officer firing a taser.
Catskill Police Chief Dave Darling said in November that he thought officers "were afraid he was going to hurt himself, and that’s what started it."
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