A Portland police officer accidentally used pepper spray instead of a fire extinguisher on a man who lit himself on fire downtown near a fur store Wednesday.
Portland Police Bureau Chief Rosie Sizer said the officer was at a stoplight at Southwest 12th Avenue and Yamhill Street when she saw a man in flames.
When the officer went to get a fire extinguisher out of the trunk of her patrol car, she accidentally grabbed a large can of pepper spray used in riot control. Sizer said the pepper spray cans are red like a fire extinguisher.
The pepper spray was water-based, not oil-based, and nonflammable. Kim Kosmas of the Fire Bureau said the spray "didn't have any additional reaction with him already being on fire."
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.
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