When Daniel Shaull, 26, was spotted by a Portland officer after he burst into flames, the officer grabbed what she thought was a fire extinguisher and ran to put him out. Instead she succeeded in pepper spraying Shaull, who died later of his injuries.
It turns out that the pepper spray canister and the fire extinguisher are both painted red. The department is now considering whether it might be better to paint the canisters in different colors.
Reports indicate that the man set himself on fire, here.
For the full story, click here.
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“Multiple police sources said the riot-gear-sized spray that they use is very similar in size, appearance and color to the fire extinguishers they carry. They said that any one of them could have made the same mistake in that chaotic moment.”
I always thought cops were trained to stay cool as funk in chaotic moments like riots and such…
And you’re supposed to know your equipment, I guess. But then again, I too always mistake the gas pedal for the brake when I have to do a chaotic emergency stop with my car. They’re so similar in size, appearance and color, you cannot imagine…
I don’t think anyone commenting here seems to realize that police are allowed to have special things that you cannot buy at any store.
This means fully automatic assault rifles to keep in their car trunk in case the sh*t hits the fan and they can’t wait for backup at an extremely violent ongoing crime scene.
This means anti-riot pepper spray in a huge can. There was an anti-sherrif demonstration in Phoenix recently and a mounted officer started to get violently harrased by a group of people, so they were hosed down with a giant can of pepper spray that looked like a red fire extinguisher the size you would keep under your kitchen sink. Maybe 4″ diameter and 16″ tall. Definately NOT your grandmothers pepper spray.
All I can say is I hate fur too. Lookup on the web a video of how in China they skin dogs alive for their fur. They don’t bother to kill the animal first, just grab it by the back legs and slam it on the ground t knock it silly. Have one guy stand on its neck and the other guy start cutting down to the muscle and removing all the skin and fur. When they are done the completely denuded and shivering dog (all red and you don’t recognize what it is at first) is licking its paw of raw meat. No ears… all f***ed up and they live like this for up to 10 minutes. I would always put human wellfare above animal (unlike the guy that burned and degraded himslef), however I myself can’t stand living in a world where people can be so cruel to anything that has feelings, ESPECIALLY MAMMALS.
And also: terrorists like this jerk that burned himself ARE the problem. Terrorists, get an education and have a family. Stop living like 3rd world people and clean up your damn countries. Nobody ill do it for you.
ThirtyPercenter,
so was carol
I wasn’t bickering. I was making a joke.
Duh and ThirtyPercenter, Stop this bickering right now. You’re giving Mother a headache
i believe they use large containers of pepper spray for riot/crowd control. why it was sitting out is another matter.
“We have feelings too.”
That’s not what the SeventyPercenter’s say. :>)
Duh, please stop with the personal attacks on those of us who don’t read every background article.
We have feelings too.
Oh, excuse me. I just read the blog article here and not the main article and sort of assumed that no one would be so incredibly stupid as to paint some sort of giant pepper spray container red then sit it next to the fire extinguisher.
I’m so ashamed.
Byron said “that officer should be put on leave and probably fired.”
You’re not serious are you? I hope you’re not really suggesting that an officer should be fired making a mistake, during an incident that required a split second decision, that was probably well outside of any training she might have had, and when the bottles had been both been painted red; are you?
Can you imagine how that officer probably feels? She will probably relive that moment for the rest of her life.
maverratick,
What makes you think people read the story? :>) That may seriously interfere with forminging an opinion.
If you read the story, it says that both the fire extinguisher and the pepper spray canister were painted red and stored together.
what a horrible way to die. i hope the fire killed his nerves. the pepper spray and not the fire may have killed him from shock.
that officer should be put on leave and probably fired.
And aren’t fire extinguishers usually red?
Pepper spray is usually a dark colored container, black, gray, blue. I’ve never seen a large red container of pepper spray.
Unless of course she thought it contained red peppers.
I cannot understand this story. Pepper spray is always contained in a small, hand held container only a few inches in height. Even the biggest cans, the “Bear Spray” are only about 6 inches high.
The smallest fire extinguishers I’ve seen are much much larger. How can a little can of pepper spray be confused with a fire extinguisher? I am assuming this police officer had seen a can of pepper spray in her daily duties correct? And maybe a fire extinguisher or two.Somethings not right with this story.
This seems like she was trying to subdue the burning man. Like maybe he was jumping around too much and disturbing the peace?
Like he should have burned to death more quietly?
It must have been a very large container of pepper spray – even the smallest of fire extinguishers aren’t as small as container of pepper spray!
How big does a container of pepper spray have to be before you confuse it with a fire extinguisher? Or, maybe the question should be; how small does a fire extinguisher have to be?
Didn’t they have salt on hand?