Vegas Man Arrested After Setting Annoying Drunk on Fire at Gas Station

A gas station patron from Las Vegas is facing charges of attempted murder for allegedly spraying a man with gasoline and setting him on fire for annoying him.

Patrick Newell, 61, was arrested today for last week’s attack on Theodore Bejarano, 37, who is recovering in the burn unit at University Medical Center in Las Vegas, so it’s not as funny as the gasoline fight scene from Zoolander, above. Newell is also charged with batter resulting in substantial bodily harm and assault with a deadly weapon, reports KLAS-TV in Las Vegas.

But to be fair, Bejarano does sound annoying. But if you’re drunk and bug a guy with a gas pump in one hand and a lighter in the other, you might just find yourself feeling a bit toasty. And Las Vegas Boulevard has itself a new hot spot – the Circle K gas station.

Seems Bejarano was in the station drinking beer and playing a slot machine – because you know Las Vegas has them everywhere – and the store clerk told him he couldn’t drink his beer there. There are some limits in Las Vegas, you know.

So Bejarano left the store when Newell was coming in to pay for his gas, and when Newell cameback out, the guy was leaning on his truck. Bejarano asked Newell for a ride, and he refused and started pumping his gas. Bejarano persisted and offered him 75 cents and Newell got annoyed and told him to leave him alone.

So Newell threatened Bejarano with a knife, and he still wouldn’t leave, police said, so Newell went back into the store and asked the clerk to call the police.

You guessed it. The man still wouldn’t leave Newell alone. So this time around, police said, Newell sprayed Bejarano’s face and shirt with gasoline — causing the guy to complain he ruined his shirt. So Newell allegedly sprayed the man a second time and threatened him with a lighter. Bejarano still wouldn’t leave. So, according to video surveillance, Newell lit the lighter and caught Bejarano’s shirt on fire.

The clerk, on the phone with police, said he saw two small fires near the gas pumps. A casino security guard, watching the whole thing, told Bejarano to stop, drop and roll. Meanwhile, the guard said Newell was still waving his knife around, so he told him to put it away.

Newell might seem like a tough guy who takes care of himself, but until now, he hasn’t had any trouble with the law, police said.

Bejarano ended up with second degree burns over part of his body and has damaged lungs from inhaling flames. Guess he won’t be pissing off people at the gas station for a while.