No charges against Chatham-Kent police after man sets himself on fire
Police were called to his home by his wife who was concerned for his well-being
No charges will be laid in a case where a man set himself on fire on Canada Day last year in Chatham-Kent after interactions with police at his home, Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has ruled.
The 43-year-old suffered "third degree burns to 60 per cent of his body," says the SIU report.
The man's wife first called the police after she received a series of text messages from him late in the evening on June 30 that indicated he was upset about their marriage situation and he intended to harm himself.
He sent photos of a gas container and wrote "how bout just making you a widow instead."
When the four Chatham-Kent police officers arrived at the home to check on his well-being, he was sitting on a lawn chair in his back yard.
After repeated attempts to get the man to put down the gas container and to talk to police, he threatened to count to three before setting himself on fire.
SIU reports he "counted to three and carried out his threat," bringing the gas container and the lighter together. He was then fully engulfed in flames.
The officers helped extinguish the fire. He was sent to hospital and stayed in the burn unit for eight weeks.
During the SIU investigation, the man alleged that if police hadn't shown up at his house he would have never set himself on fire.
However, director of SIU Tony Loparco ruled that even though his injuries are unfortunate and severe, it's clear there was no physical interaction with police and little verbal engagement.
Loparco said "no police officer had any hand in setting him on fire," and he commended the officers for helping save his life despite risk to their own safety.