COLONIE, N.Y. - Officers with the Colonie Police Department are credited with saving the life of a man who had doused himself in gasoline and lit himself on fire.
Around 12:09 a.m. on Saturday, the Colonie Police Department responded to the area of Taft Furniture on Central Avenue after a call from the relative of a despondent 41-year-old Schenectady
man that was threatening to harm himself.
The man was located by officers in the parking lot and had poured gasoline on himself. While officers were speaking with him, he did light himself on fire and run away.
Patrol Officer Nicholas Burns, an 8-year
veteran then tackled the man to the ground and then Officers Edward
Johnson, a 9-year veteran and Robert Willey, a 2-year veteran used their fire
extinguishers to fully extinguish the fire.
The man was transported to Albany
Medical Center
with burns to his chest, arms and legs and was later transferred to Westchester Medical
Center. His condition
is listed as critical, but stable.
NEWS10 ABC
