Fire 'Down Under'

From BBC World News

An Australian man found himself engulfed in flames earlier this month after aggressively storming police officers “with a container of petrol fuel and a cigarette lighter.” Aiming to prevent any sort of arson related attack; officers fired Taser stun guns in defense “penetrating the suspect's skin with over 50,000 volts of electricity from two copper wires attached to the gun.”

Witnesses divulged to police that the suspect was indeed sniffing petroleum at the time of the incident, allowing investigators to determine that remaining deposits of fuel located on the suspect’s face triggered the fire that left him with 3rd degree burns to over ten percent of his body.

The suspect is currently being hospitalized in Western Australia and remains in critical condition despite his close encounter with death. He is being charged with “assault to prevent arrest and possession of [an intoxicating] sniffing substance.”

Teen Found Not Guilty

19-year-old Tristian Beckett was declared not guilty of manslaughter after his friend Thomas Hillman died in an explosion. The two friends along with several others were huffing LPG (liquid petroleum gas) in a car when Beckett lit a lighter, setting the gas fumes on fire.


Thomas was in the backseat and died of respiratory problems.

As part of his testimony, Tristian claimed that,

it never occurred to him the gas might be a danger when he flicked the lighter as the group had not huffed the gas for 10 minutes and he could not smell gas.

Fire safety officer Paul Wigzell said it only took a 2% to 3 % ratio of LPG to air for the gas to combust.

Read more about the story in an earlier post.

The photo above is from stuff.co.nz.

19-Year-Old Charged With Death of Friend

A sad case of inhalant-related death has led to a trial in Blenheim, New Zealand beginning today. Tristian Beckett, 19, is charged with the manslaughter of his friend, Thomas Hillman, 18, back in October of 2006.

The two teenagers along with three friends were in a two-door car inhaling LPG, or liquid petroleum gas. They were passing around the canister when Tristian flicked a lighter, causing an explosion.

Glenn Marshall, the prosecuter, was quoted in One News describing the incident:

"Blue flame rolled around the ceiling of the vehicle. All the occupants panicked and you can imagine that there was pandemonium in the vehicle at the time with people screaming trying to get out of the car."

Crystal River, the owner of the car, said that they had been joking about the risks of dying and what they would do if one of them got into trouble,

"Then we were talking about lighting (cigarette) lighters and Thomas had his huff and Tristian flicked the lighter."

She cried when she talked about the explosion and getting out of the car. Thomas Hillman had been sitting behind her. She said,"I didn't pop the seat," and that she saw Tristian pulling Thomas out of the car. After that, she witnessed Tristian returning to the car for the LPG bottle, turning it off, and taking it down the street.

Alixandria Hilliard, another passenger, thought she remembered Thomas "partly walking beside the accused and being partly dragged to safety," while making grunting noises.

The court is trying to prove whether or not flicking the lighter went beyond carelessness into gross negligence.

Choking Death in New Zealand

A 14-year-old boy from Wainoni, New Zealand died in October after passing out while inhaling LPG (liquid petroleum gas). The coroner is now warning young people about the dangers of inhalant use, calling it a 'dangerous game', and

"I ask that every young person in this room tell their friends about how dangerous it is. Spread the word -- don't do it. The facts of the case so clearly speak for themselves."

Nathan Cunningham fell unconscious at some point while huffing and began vomiting. He died by asphixation.