Fiery incident raises questions over federal Taser rules

A viral video now seen by millions as a man catches fire at an Arizona gas pump after being tased by a federal officer. Still many questions remain in this investigation and tonight we're hearing from the Department of the Interior's former Inspector General about the incident. Here's Fox 10 Investigator Justin Lam. I was like oh crap I was shocked. Janelle saw the burst of flames at a gas station on the Mojave Valley Indian Reservation. She was already filming. Now her angle of the incident on July 16th has nearly 20 million views on Instagram. Clarence Coyle, the man who caught fire, was also recording his encounter with a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officer. You're going to go to jail. All I'm asking for is your license right now to identify you. What am I being arrested for? You are not cooperating. A misdemeanor? A misdemeanor. It's a $10. The backstory is still unclear. Clarence tells Fox 10 he was at the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge when the officer warned him that he was trespassing. This happened 20 minutes away from the gas station. The officer told him you were told to leave and the guy said I did leave and officer said when you did you peeled out and kicked up rocks all over me. I need to see your ID and then it escalated from there and that's when he pulled his taser out on the guy. A spokesperson with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the taser deployment is under review and declines to comment further. Janelle also claims that the officer whose uniform name reads P. Nielsen did not just pull out a taser. I don't know what happened but the officer actually put his taser away and he pulled his real gun on him for a second and he says I told you to stop reaching. Coyle suffered first and second degree burns. He says he was never arrested. Fish and Wildlife falls under the U.S. Department of Interior along with other federal agencies specifically the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and U.S. Park Police. From 2019 to 2025 Mark Lee Greenblatt was the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Interior. In 2023 he released a report blasting the DOI's taser policies. The entire world of tasers inside the Department of the Interior including the Fish and Wildlife Service was sort of in purgatory. The oversight report called the policies outdated and unfinalized with an inadequate review of incident reports by supervisors. Officers failed to routinely test electronic control devices sometimes less than five times a month. Greenblatt also called out incomplete taser training. And that's how you end up with these viral moments that are that are pretty scary. So speaking of viral what were your thoughts in seeing this video? Well it's troubling. I mean everyone knows that does you know those tasers do send electric shocks and and you know having that occur near a gas pump and it appears to be a gas pump that's in use that is troubling there's no question about that and that's the that's the type of issue we were flagging in our report. The current DOI policy clearly states that an electronic control device should not be used if a subject is near flammable or explosive materials. Greenblatt says the potential for an explosion is at the core of why the policy review was done in 2023. And there should be bright letters that say don't use this in a in a gas station. From Janelle's point of view she describes Clarence as hostile that day but agrees with Greenblatt that deploying a taser at a gas pump is dangerous. I think they both did have a bad day and I feel bad for both of them to be honest. FWS has not told Fox 10 what the status of the officer's employment is. I'm Justin Lum for Fox 10 Investigates.