Cedar Hill cop shoots man who set himself on fire

[Bob Of Burleson]

Cedar Hill police say officer
shoots man who set himself
on fire; three officers burned

By Tristan Hallman
thallman@dallasnews.com

A Cedar Hill officer shot a man who had apparently doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire Wednesday, a city spokesman said.

Three officers were burned, and one has been rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital by air ambulance, Corky Brown said. The man was also taken to Parkland.

Lt. Charles Reiss said officers were pursuing the man who was a suspect in a burglary in progress at a nearby apartment complex when the man fled into the Wing Stop near Belt Line Road and Highway 67 smelling of gasoline.

The officers went in after the man who managed to set himself on fire during the scuffle.

Reiss said the officers tried to smother the man and put the fire out. Eventually, one of the officers shot the man in the parking lot of the restaurant.

Spencer Stroud and Robert Gonzales, who were outside the Jewelry Box store a few doors down from Wing Stop, said they saw the man run out to the parking lot engulfed in flames with the female officer running after him.

“You couldn’t even see him … he looked like a human torch,” Gonzales said. “Couldn’t see facial features, couldn’t see nothing.”

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[planosteve]

Strange! I was just there yesterday at the Beltline Road Dental Clinic in Cedar Hill getting an exam and cleaning. I've been going there since 1982!