The incident happened last year in the central Louisiana town of Kolin, when officials were sent to a home for a welfare check and the situation escalated.
But when one officer pulled out his taser, no one saw what was coming next.
In November of last year, the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office took a call about a welfare check that was needed for a man in his home.
Several complaints had come in that the 75 year-old man had been threatening neighbors and the mailman.
When the deputies went to check out the situation, the man met them at the door with a knife.
The Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office released body cam video showing the incident.
Back-up arrived and the deputies brought in one of the man's relatives to help calm him down and coax him out of the house for questioning.
When that didn't work, the deputies pushed open the door. The video shows that's when the man tried to attack them with the weapon.
One deputy took out his taser and, as he pulled the trigger, the man pulled out a cup of gasoline.
The man caught fire and so did two of the deputies.
At that moment, one of the deputies reached for what they believed was a bucket of water. But instead, it was more gas.
The deputies managed to get the man and themselves extinguished. But the fire spread through the house. The home was ruled a total loss.
The State Fire Marshal's office says the man was sent for treatment for his burns and later for mental treatment.
The man was charged with attempted first degree murder, resisting an officer, attempted battery, and hate crimes, however, a grand jury chose to not indict the man.. Instead, the grand jury indicted the two deputies who responded to the scene for negligent injury.
The district attorney believes the grand jury thought the deputies shouldn't have used the taser.
The district attorney says he couldn't prosecute the case because he believed it was clear the evidence showed that they were trying to help the man get mental health before he turned the knife on them.
The district attorney's office threw out the indictment against the deputies last week.
Charges dismissed against two Louisiana deputies after they tased a man who caught on fire
A district attorney has decided not to prosecute two deputies who tased a man during a welfare check. The deputies apparently didn't know the man was holding a cup of gasoline at the time they tased him.
KOLIN, La. (NBC NEWS) - Charges against two Louisiana deputies have been dismissed after the district attorney's office indicted them on a case that it couldn't prosecute.
