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The New York Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation (OSI) found that a prosecutor would not be able to prove that the three officers, all members of the Catskill Police Department in Greene County, committed a crime in the October 2021 death of Jason Jones.
Therefore, no criminal charges against the officers will be pursued, the AG’s office announced Friday, Oct. 13.
The 29-year-old Jones walked into the Catskill Police Department on Oct. 29, 2021, after officers escorted him out of a nearby bar for causing a disturbance.
After entering the station’s lobby, he pounded on windows, overturned a table, and removed some of his clothing.
Officers spent 25 minutes trying to calm him down and suggesting that they take him home before Jones picked up a bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitizer and rubbed it all over his head and upper body.
Surveillance footage captured the moment one of the officers fired a TASER device at Jones, who immediately caught fire due to the hand sanitizer.
The video shows the officers frantically trying to put out the flames before running out of the room to get a fire extinguisher, according to the attorney general’s office.
Jones can be seen dropping to the floor and rolling around in an attempt to quell the fire.
The video’s time stamp shows that nearly 22 seconds went by before the alcohol burned off and the fire was fully put out. Another 10 minutes passed before a stretcher arrived to take Jones to a hospital.
He spent 47 days on a ventilator before dying in December 2021.
According to the attorney general’s office, the incident does not meet the threshold for prosecuting either reckless manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide under New York law.
“For both charges, the prosecution must also prove that the officers demonstrated a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe,” the agency said.
“In this case, the CPD officers attempted to subdue Mr. Jones with a device that is not usually lethal to take him to a hospital, believing he was a danger to himself or others.
“The video from the station house lobby shows their shock when the hand sanitizer ignited, and the investigation showed that their training did not warn them against using a TASER (device) around hand sanitizer.”
Police officers in New York undergo more than 700 hours of training, but that training does not cover the use of TASER or similar devices. Instead, such training is usually provided by the manufacturer of the weapon.
Noting this, the attorney general’s office said it was recommending that the Office of Public Safety (OPS) update police officer training to cover “all flammable substances that such weapons could ignite.”
In January 2023, relatives of Jones filed a $20 million federal lawsuit against the Catskill Police Department accusing the officers of assault, wrongful death, excessive force, and violating Jones’ civil rights.
This continues to be a developing story. Check back to Daily Voice for updates.
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