Kaysville PD identifies officers injured when man set fire to himself in suicide attempt

Kaysville Police Department has identified the four officers injured while trying to save a suicidal man who set himself on fire in a convenience store restroom Thursday April 5, 2018. Photo: Gephardt Daily/Monico Garza/SLCScanner

KAYSVILLE, Utah, April 7, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — The Kaysville Police Department has identified the officers injured when a mentally ill man set fire to himself Thursday in the restroom of a Kaysville convenience store.

A Facebook post Saturday night said:

Many of you have been eagerly awaiting news on our officers’ well-being: we are pleased to announce that Sergeant Shawn McKinnon and Officer Lacy Turner, who received minor burns in the fire on April 5, 2018, are back to full duty.
Officer Cade Bradshaw, who received more severe burns, is home recuperating with his family. Officer Robert Jackson, optimistic and eager to return to duty, is recovering from his injuries in the University of Utah Hospital.

The incident Thursday began at about 3 p.m. when Kaysville police officers were summoned to the Top Stop/Chevron station at 220 S. 300 West after a man later identified as Tyler Ivison doused himself with gasoline and stood in the restroom with a lighter, intending to burn himself to death.

The officers were trying to wrestle the lighter away when spark met fabric. Officers were caught up in the explosive blaze, but stayed to save Ivison from a fiery death.

Two officers and Ivison were transported by medical helicopter to the University of Utah Hospital. Another was taken there by ground ambulance, and a fourth officer was checked at Davis Hospital, in Layton.

On Saturday, Joshua Budge, who is Tyler Ivison’s brother-in-law, expressed the family’s gratitude to the officers who risked their own lives to save Ivison’s.

“They (the officers) saved Ty’s life,” Budge told Gephardt Daily. “He would be dead if not for them. They are all heroes, and I am extremely sorry they had to be there and do that for him.”

Ivison was put into a medically induced coma at the hospital and is on a ventilator. Doctors are hopeful for his survival, Budge said, “but it’s a very long road to recovery.”

To see more on this story and Iverson’s family’s experience with currently available mental health services, click here.

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