NAGOYA — Tuesday 13th May, 02:15 AM JST
Nagoya prefectural police authorities said Monday they are considering disciplinary action for three police officers after they gave a cigarette and a lighter to a man in their custody who had doused himself with kerosene. The man set fire to himself in front of police after asking to smoke during interrogation on Sunday. He died of his burns on Monday, police said.
Hifumi Kubota, 45, was taken for questioning to a police station in Nagoya on Saturday after a woman who was living with him told police that he was acting violently. When officers came to his house, “he poured kerosene over himself in front of police,” a police spokesman said.
Kubota refused to change his kerosene-soaked clothes at the police station and asked to smoke during questioning, according to police.
Despite no-smoking rules in the building, a police official gave him a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. When Kubota stood up, his right knee was ablaze and he quickly turned into a fireball, the reports said.
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