Inspector general report called out 'oversight of Tasers' years before Arizona gas station fire
Still from the video Clarence Coyl captured of the incident.
FORT MOHAVE, Ariz. - A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officer is under scrutiny after the agency says he deployed a taser. But the now-viral incident happened at a gas pump, and a Mohave Valley man suffered burns after a fire ignited.
What they're saying:
Josh Logan is a retired Chandler police officer and co-founder of Guardian Training and Consulting. He reviewed cell phone video obtained by FOX 10, capturing the moment a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officer uses a taser on Clarence Coyl.
In the video, the officer says, "You’re gonna go to jail, all I’m asking for is your license right now to identify you…"
Coyl asks, "What am I being arrested for?"
The officer replies, "You are not cooperating for having committed a crime…"
Coyl responds, "What? A misdemeanor? A misdemeanor (expletive). It’s a $10 …" just before the device is deployed.
When asked, "What stands out to you right off the bat?" Logan answered, "The subject is not clenching his fists or appears to do any kind of active aggression."
A spokesperson for Fish and Wildlife says the taser deployment is under review but declined further comment.
Video shows gas pump fire after "Taser" deployment
Cell phone video captures the moment a U.S. Fish and Wildlife officer uses a Taser on a man near a gas pump, igniting a fire on the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation. FOX 10's Justin Lum has the story.
Now, new witness video obtained from July 16 reveals a wider angle.
"I thought I was gonna die. Believe it or not, I went into instinct to stop, drop and roll," Coyl said to FOX 10 in our first report.
Twenty minutes earlier, Coyl says the officer accused him of trespassing at the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge. Coyl says he left the area, eventually pulling into this gas station on the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation, where he was confronted by the officer for his ID. The officer—whose name tag reads "P. Nielsen"—deploys the less-lethal weapon just feet away from Coyl, right next to a gas pump.
Logan says there were other options.
"The severity of the crime is low. The threat to officers or public, I would say, is low and the threats to potentially escalate or de-escalate is medium to low at that point," Logan said.
When asked, "Is there any de-escalation tactic that's being used that you see?" Logan said, "Well, de-escalation is a word that we use in use of force training. Understand that de-escalation could go up and down. It's a fluid situation."
Fish and Wildlife Service is under the U.S. Department of Interior. Policy on the use of electronic control devices clearly states that they should not be used if a subject is believed to be contaminated by—or near—flammable or explosive materials.
"I see this a lot where we're rushing a situation that doesn't need to be rushed. Obviously, this is the value of hindsight. If this individual didn't catch on fire, would it have been as big of a report? Maybe, maybe not. But the fact remains is, in that moment, was time on your side? Could you have used other resources?" Logan said.
Dig deeper:
This isn't the first time a taser deployment at a gas station ended in flames. In 2022, Florida deputies followed Jean Barreto after he popped a wheelie following a memorial ride. As he filled up his motorcycle, a deputy deployed a taser—igniting a fire that left Barreto with third-degree burns across 75% of his body.
Judge denies motion to dismiss lawsuit filed by man set on fire at Florida gas station
Jean Louis Barreto-Baerga filed a lawsuit against the county and six Osceola County deputies—including suspended sheriff Marcos Lopez—after a 2022 incident that left him severely burned.
In 2024, Deputy David Crawford was acquitted by a jury of any criminal negligence. Barreto is now suing the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.
As for federal taser use, it’s been under scrutiny before. In 2023, the Inspector General of the Department of the Interior found that DOI was using an outdated policy. The report revealed supervisors at bureaus like Fish and Wildlife were not thoroughly reviewing incident reports, and officers did not consistently test tasers before shifts. The OIG said bureaus provided "inconsistent and incomplete taser recertification training."
Several recommendations were made, and FWS stated their policy is now current.
But after watching this video unfold, Logan says the critical need for better training extends far beyond a single federal agency.
"I would say as a whole, law enforcement as a whole needs more training, period," Logan said.
The Source: Information in this report was gathered from Clarence Coyl, Josh Logan, Guardian Training and Consulting, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the former U.S. Department of the Interior Inspector General's 2023 report, and reporting from FOX 35 Orlando.