Chesterfield County, Va. - A suspected drunk driver whose clothes caught fire after he was tasered by a Chesterfield Police officer is in critical condition.
The driver was fleeing police when he lost control of his car and rolled it several times on the bridge just north of Jefferson Davis Highway and Chester Road, according to WTVR.
“An officer stopped a 2012 Volkswagen sedan in the 7200 block of Jefferson Davis Highway for suspicion of DUI. As the officer approached, the driver accelerated and fled, traveling south on Jefferson Davis Highway. Police officers pursued and the driver lost control of the car on the bridge just north of Jefferson Davis and Chester Rd. The car rolled several times, trapping the driver inside,” a Chesterfield Police spokesman wrote in an email.
After police and firefighters freed the man from the wreckage, he began to fight with the people who rescued him, police said. That is when a Chesterfield Police officer used his TASER to subdue the driver.
“One officer discharged his TASER at the man in order to bring him under control and this ignited the man’s clothing, which may have come in contact with gasoline during the crash,” Chesterfield Police said. “Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire and transported the man to VCU Medical Center.”
