One police officer remained hospitalized Friday, and a man who set himself on fire Thursday afternoon at a Kaysville Chevron/McDonald’s was in critical condition — both at University Hospital’s burn unit.
A 26-year-old Utah man entered a Chevron gas station/convenience store, near 200 North and 300 West in Kaysville, purchased a gas can and then filled it at the pump outside, according to witnesses.
At around 2:30 p.m., he poured the gasoline on himself. Kaysville police officers responded to a call of a suicidal man.
As officers approached him inside the store, the man used a lighter to set himself ablaze, according to police. Four officers attempted to rescue him.
At 2:35, a dispatcher got a call that an officer was “down” at the scene.
The officers — three men and one woman — were hospitalized Thursday, but three were released later that night.
The remaining unidentified male police officer is expected to recover, but most likely will remain in the University Hospital burn unit for two weeks. That officer is the one who dealt most directly with the suicidal man, police said.
Police have not yet determined why the man wanted to commit suicide.
The Tribune is not naming the man because he has not been arrested or charged with a crime. Kaysville Deputy Police Chief Seth Ellington said Friday that the incident remains under investigation.
According to court records, the man has been convicted of a number of mostly misdemeanor crimes since 2010, including theft, causing damage to a jail, DUI and retail theft.
In 2014, he pleaded guilty to a third-degree felony count of possession of a controlled substance following his arrest by Provo police, who found heroin, methamphetamine and prescription pills in his backpack. He was sentenced to probation and six months in jail, court records show.
If you or someone you know may be experiencing suicidal thoughts please call the 24-Hour National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, please call 9-1-1.
Also, Utah has crisis lines statewide, http://dsamh.utah.gov/crisis-hotlines-2.
