Cop tasers suicidal suspect doused in gasoline...resulting in burns

quote:
A Weed man who was shot with a police stun gun while doused in a flammable liquid is fighting for his life in a Sacramento-area hospital with burns covering 70% of his body.

According to family members, Paul Jason Hall or "PJ" Hall, 47, was "crying out for help," when he threatened to light himself on fire in his downtown Weed home on Oct. 12.

When Hall — who has a history of mental health issues — wouldn't drop a lighter he was holding, a Weed police officer used his stun gun on Hall, igniting the liquid and setting him on fire, according to Hall's nephew.

"As soon as the Taser was deployed, the fire literally hit the ceiling," said Spencer Hall, nephew of PJ Hall, who used his knowledge as an EMT to treat his uncle while onlookers pooled and emergency responders rushed to the scene.

The officer and PJ Hall were each taken to hospitals immediately following the fire. But Hall isn't guaranteed to recover, according to family members. The extent of the burns on his skin leaves him especially vulnerable to infection, complications of which are one of the leading causes of death for burn victims.

"He’s pretty heavily sedated because the pain would be unbearable if he wasn’t," Spencer Hall said.

Per protocol, the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office has opened an investigation into the use of force. The Weed Police Department has not yet named the officer who was involved, but a sergeant said he had worked for the agency for about a year.

Family asks why this had to happen

As the Halls hope for recovery, they're still trying to figure out why the officer used his stun gun on their relative in the first place.

"There was just no regard for deescalating the situation," Spencer Hall said. "It was force from the get-go. And I don’t know why."

That sentiment was echoed by Bob Hall, who is PJ Hall's father, a city councilman and a former mayor of Weed. The elder Hall is raising questions about the quality of police training and officers' attitudes toward the people they encounter.

The former mayor said he wished the officer would have made a better effort to negotiate with his son before resorting to force. He questioned why the officer used a stun gun while his son appeared to be covered in a flammable substance.

"I think he should be trained for that situation," Bob Hall said. "There was no threat. My son wasn't threatening anybody. Nobody else was in any danger. There was nothing going on except he was crying out for help."

Bob Hall said concerns about the relationship between police and civilians aren't confined to Weed or Siskiyou County, speaking broadly about what he sees as systemic problems. He said he came across police training videos on the internet in which officers use war-like terms to describe their patrol beats, which Hall argues instill a dangerous "Us vs. Them" mentality.

"To me, that's just the opposite of what they should be doing," he said. "We have them for our safety, and they're being trained as if it's a war out there."

Bob Hall said he has brought the issue up to local law enforcement officials in the past and said he'll continue to discuss it.

"That's about all I can do," Hall said. "I can hope and pray that my son recovers. We're putting a lot of energy into that."

Who is PJ Hall?

PJ Hall has been like a father figure to Spencer Hall for much of his life.

The 23-year-old talked about trips to San Francisco with his uncle to see 49ers games and watching fireworks from Chinatown.

He talked about how PJ Hall went out of his way to help friends. He had raised his own kids and coached youth teams in the area. Readers of the Mt. Shasta News have seen his name show up in stories playing bocce and volunteering.

"If you're a good person, he's going to treat you like a good person," Spencer Hall said.

So what led to PJ Hall dousing himself in a flammable substance?

According to his father, he had fallen behind on bills and was stressed about a January incident in which he was accused of battery on a police officer after being pulled over.

In 2009, the 47-year-old had been arrested and pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and possession of an assault weapon. But family members say Hall isn't a danger to anyone except himself.

"He doesn't do anything other than crazy stuff with himself," his father said. "He never harms anybody. He rages every now and then when he's not right, but he's never been violent."

Spencer Hall said when he showed up to his uncle's home on Oct. 12, his uncle wasn't acting violently or resisting arrest. He was sitting in a corner of a room and looking away from the officer, who was trying to get him to drop a lighter.

"I said, 'PJ listen to me, this isn’t your life,' and he looked at me and said 'No, this is my life now,' and I said 'No, it's not,' and he was pleading with me," the 23-year-old said. "Then the cop just said, 'If you don’t put the lighter down in 3, 2, 1 — Taser, Taser Taser.'"

Spencer Hall joined in his grandfather's calls for better police training, especially when it comes to deescalation.

"I hope that people understand that mental illness is a real thing," Spencer Hall said."It's just wild to me that he would even think about tasing somebody covered in fuel."

The family has set up a GoFundMe page to cover PJ Hall's expenses while he tries to recover with the goal of raising $10,000.

Weed police Sgt. Justin Mayberry said his agency is essentially unable to comment on the situation as it is the subject of a sheriff's office investigation. He said the officer involved in the incident has not yet returned to work, away with injury, but did not describe the extent of his injures.

Mayberry said the officer involved had been trained to use his stun gun. Training involves written, digital and physical components that every officer must pass if they are to carry a stun gun.

Mayberry said the police will name the officer "possibly when everything gets further down the road."

"I haven’t watched the video so I can't say, 'This is what occurred.' I haven’t spoken to the officer, so I haven’t gotten his side of the story," Mayberry said. "I’m letting (investigators) do their jobs and go from there."

Didn't realize Weed had a police department, its a very small town on the Northwestern edge of Mt.Shasta along I-5. There's a handful of wealthy landholders and retirees, along with a menagerie of new age hippies (the mtn attracts such), a few business owners and a bunch of rednecks. Meth is a major problem much like fentanyl is back East.

Using a Taser in combination of flammable/combustable fuel...what could happen?

Father is former mayor and a current councilman...would be very interesting as to what Mr Hall has done to fund, support and improve PD training. Scolding and castigating the local PD doesn't work Mr Hall.

PJ Hall was a known person to the local PD, priors for assault, assault on a PD, and drug possession. Mr Hall, your son is a mess.

Posts: 15180 | Location: Wine Country | Registered: September 20, 2000

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