Disturbing Video Shows Man Dowsing Himself In Hand Sanitizer Before Bursting Into Flames After Being Tased By Police, Man Died Almost 2 Months Later

ALBANY — Two Catskill police officers ran out of their station's lobby and shut the door behind them when a 29-year-old man they were trying to subdue burst into flames in front of them after one of the officers fired a Taser at him.

A third officer involved in the fatal encounter also ran away, moving toward the front door of the station, where he appeared to stand around the corner of an interior wall rather than rush to the aid of the man who was burning in front of him.

Jason Jones, who had doused himself with flammable hand sanitizer seconds before the officer fired his Taser, fell to the ground and was left to use his hands to try and put out the flames that had engulfed his upper body and head. He died last month after spending 47 days on a ventilator in an intensive care unit at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse.

Surveillance video of the disturbing encounter was released Friday by the state attorney general's office. That office took over the investigation under a 2015 Executive Order issued by former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo that empowers the attorney general to investigate fatal encounters between police and unarmed civilians.

The video raises questions about the officers' actions, including whether they followed their training and protocols.