A MENTALLY-DISTURBED MAN FROM OUT-OF-TOWN immolated himself on the sidewalk in Portland, Oregon, Wednesday.  The 26-yr.-old man from Kansas walked up to a furrier’s shop and set himself on fire while screaming something in the direction of the store entrance.

A police officer was sitting in her cruiser at a stop light when she witnessed the event unfolding shortly after 11 am.  She then drove her car over to the site and opened the trunk to get out the fire extinguisher.  Unfortunately, the portable extinguishers that Portland PD use are the same size, shape and color as their large pepper-spray cannisters used for crowd control.  Whereupon she pulled out the wrong can and began spraying the poor man with the pepper spray.

KPTV Ch. 12 picks up the story from here:

Andrew Scoggin in The Oregonian reports:

The man who set himself afire, 26-year-old Daniel Shaull of Dodge City, Kan., died at a hospital later Wednesday. His father, Warren, said his son had psychiatric problems and was living on the streets.  Shaull recently boarded a bus to Oregon, where he had never been, and arrived in Portland about five days ago, his father said. He said Shaull was suicidal when he left.

“I had a feeling something was going to tragically happen,” Warren Shaull said.  “He was mentally ill.  He was tired of living.”

The officer, who has been on the job for fewer than 10 years, did not know she had used pepper spray until she got back to central precinct, (Police Chief) Sizer said. Another officer found the empty can later at the scene.

“It was a mistake that she was unaware of, and a mistake that she’s heartsick about,” Sizer said.

Firegeezer is wondering if it is normal for Portland police to toss empty fire extinguishers on the sidewalk and leave?  Or am I missing something that didn’t make it into the published story?

A burned shoe remains on a sidewalk in downtown Portland Wednesday after a man set himself on fire.