Most disagreements with a game warden end with a ticket, a lecture, or at worst a very awkward drive home. This one ended with a man on fire next to a gas pump, which is not a sentence anyone expects to type on a Thursday.
The incident happened on July 16 in northwestern Arizona, reported 12 News, starting at the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge and finishing about twenty minutes later at a gas station on the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation. Clarence “Chuck” Coyl, a Mohave Valley resident, says a U.S. Fish and Wildlife officer accused him and a friend of driving through an open gate near a spot called Catfish Paradise. Words were exchanged, Coyl left, and he figured that was the end of it.
It wasn’t. Coyl says he ran into the same officer again at the Thaylpo gas station while he was filling up his tank. According to Coyl, the officer demanded ID, things escalated, and the officer deployed a stun gun while Coyl was standing at an active fuel pump. Cell phone video from the scene shows Coyl going down and catching fire almost immediately.
If you’ve ever wondered why every gas pump on earth has a sticker warning you not to smoke, not to use your phone, and generally not to introduce any spark within a hundred yards of the nozzle, this is exhibit A for why those stickers exist. Coyl suffered first and second degree burns on his hands along with nerve damage, and says he’s facing more than a month of physical therapy. He has not been arrested or charged with anything.
What the Officer’s Own Agency Says About Tasers Near Fuel
This is the part that raises eyebrows even among people who generally side with law enforcement. Department of Interior policy on electronic control devices reportedly states officers shouldn’t use them unless there’s a clearly articulable reason, and law enforcement trainers widely teach that stun guns should never be used near flammable materials for exactly this reason.
A retired officer with decades of use-of-force experience who reviewed the footage told a local news outlet the response looked like an escalation without cause.
Whatever happened at the refuge gate, a gas pump is about the worst possible location for anybody to be reaching for a taser. Sparks and gasoline vapor have never gotten along, and this incident is a pretty vivid reminder of that chemistry lesson.
An Investigation Is Now Underway
U.S. Fish and Wildlife confirmed a taser was used and said the deployment is under review, though the agency isn’t commenting further while that process plays out.
Coyl says he’s pursuing legal action and that no one from the agency has reached out to him since the incident.