Sunday 22 May 2022 03:43 AM Bodycam of cop setting dirt bike rider alight shows officer shouting 'kill the ... trends now

Newly released body camera footage reveals the sickening moment a deputy and a dirt bike rider were engulfed in flames after the officer fired a taser at a gas station.

Deputy David Crawford was heard screaming in pain and begging his fellow officers to 'put out' the fire on his legs as he desperately rolled around.

Meanwhile his victim, dirt bike rider Jean Barreto, 26, was 'cooked alive' in the fireball which left him with third-degree burns on approximately 75% of his body.

Both remain in hospital after the February 27 incident at the Wawa gas station in Florida. But Crawford will likely face misdemeanor charges of culpable negligence for igniting the explosion, Osceola County Sheriff Marco López said. 

Police are also planning to charge Barreto with several charges, including resisting arrest, if he survives.

Osceola County Sheriff have released body cam footage of the incident this week under mounting pressure from the victim's family and the media.

The first is from Crawford's camera and shows him approaching the gas pumps where Barreto was filling his bike before tackling to the ground. 

'Get off the bike! Get on the ground now,' Crawford can be heard yelling in the video as a fellow officer pulls out his Taser and fires it at him.

Footage shows gasoline pouring onto the ground after the officers failed to allow Barreto to put on his gas tank before they tackled him.

Crawford acknowledges the gas, saying: 'Kill the pump, kill the pump, there's gas' and his fellow officer drops the Taser.

But Crawford then picks it up, warning: 'You're about to get tasered again, dude,' the fires the Taser.

Moments later, you can hear the Taser and see the flames erupt, forcing Crawford to roll around on the ground and scream as he catches fire for about 30 seconds. 

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT 

Another video from the perspective of Deputy Christopher Koffinas begins with him following Barreto in a police cruiser.

Eventually, Koffinas gets to the scene and rushes in to help with the arrest, pulling out his Taser.

About a half minute later, Crawford is heard off-camera saying he was going to use the Taser before you begin to see the flames.

Koffinas begins to put out the fire on his own pants before helping Crawford, whose legs are enveloped by the blaze.  

Eventually, another officer pours Gatorade on Crawford to put out the fire. 

Eventually, Koffinas calls for an ambulance and walks over to Barreto, who is handcuffed on the ground with much of his clothing apparently burned off.

Barreto says: 'Get me to the hospital right now,' 

'Yeah, you're going to the hospital,' Koffinas replies, before shouting: 'Why were you running? Why were you running,' he said.

'I wasn't running,' Barreto responds.

Meanwhile, Barreto continues to fight for his life.

Regarding the video, Mark NeJame, an attorney for Barreto told DailyMail.com that 'The sheriff's office was sneaky' in releasing the video on a Friday evening in an attempt to keep the media and public from catching it. 

A source told DailyMail.com what Deputy David Crawford did was 'absolutely reckless.'  

'At the end of the day, did this young man deserve this? If he survives this his life will be destroyed.'

'Part of training curriculum that every law enforcement officer is taught is to determine appropriate use of a weapon. It is obvious that this was not an appropriate environment to use the taser.'

Referring to the Osceola County Sheriff's Department's policy on taser use which the source provided to DailyMail.com it states that 'serious injuries could incur as a result of secondary factors as a result of CEW activation possibly drown in a body of water, fall from an elevated area, around flammable substances.' 

The source shared that 'the sheriff's policy and procedures are reckless and dangerous.  'Our law enforcement officials are there to protect the community and should be held to a higher standard and officer Crawford should be held accountable.' 

A second source told DailyMail.com that the office being charged 'at times can be reckless.'

'I am not surprised by what happened. This is what happens when poor decision-making takes place,' they said.

NeJame spoke to DailyMail.com issuing a statement after Lopez's presser.

'Law enforcement cannot break the law themselves in order to enforce it. They are not the judge, jury, and executioner. They have a limited role in our criminal justice system and when they take the law in their own hands, they are the most dangerous,' NeJame said. 

He continued: 'Our client, Jean Barreto, has been cooked alive, by the overzealous, irresponsible, and illegal actions of the Osceola County Sheriff's office, whose policies, created and promoted by Sheriff Lopez, have led to this and other atrocities within his department. Their actions insult and defame the mostly good members of law enforcement, as much as their reckless policies maim, injure, and kill our citizens. '

The comments flooded Facebook with many expressing their outrage on the sheriff's handling of the incident.

 'I supported this Sheriff until this incident, and a couple of things that have happened in last couple of months. He acts like he is in the Wild West,' one person wrote. 

'Notice Lopez never acknowledged how many people that cop could have killed by firing his taser,' another person said.

No accountability, basically just killed someone in the worst way and stand there defending their unlawful actions. Just horrible.' 

 Osceola County released footage on Thursday showing Barreto - who cops targeted after he allegedly skipped a traffic stop set up after a 911 caller reported a rider on a blue motorbike threatened him on the road with a gun - riding recklessly as deputies pursue.

'Watch this - you'll see what a menace this guy was on the roadway,' López told reporters before airing the footage.

Cops said they zeroed in on Barreto because he matched the caller's description and was on a blue bike.

'Passing cops, popping wheelies, going against traffic – he doesn't care,' López said during the presser, narrating the footage, which shows a bird's-eye view of Barreto, performing stunts and going against traffic as the helicopter gives chase overhead.

 'We deal with this all the time – sick and tired of this stuff,' the sheriff said as he showed the footage.

According to López, the video shows Barreto - who had been on his way home from a peaceful motorbike memorial ride in Osceola County - run approximately 13 red lights, perform 6 wheelies, and drive in the opposite lane of traffic 5 times.

At one point in the footage, the rider confirmed to be Barreto can be seen driving through a red light at a busy intersection, narrowly missing multiple cars.

'Imagine this 400-500 lb bike hitting the windshield of your mother, one of your family, López told onlookers during the screening of the previously unreleased footage.

The video then shows Barreto, who was followed by the cops several miles from Osceola County to Orange County during the pursuit, arrive at a Wawa gas station roughly a mile from his house, where he proceeds to fill his bike up with gas.

Minutes later, the deputy facing charges, Deputy Crawford can be seen arriving at the scene, pulling up to the Wawa before exiting the vehicle and approaching Barreto from behind.

At this point, López said, deputies believed Barreto was armed.

Crawford then tackles Barreto from behind in the footage, where at which point, according to López, he began to

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