Dad of gas-soaked stun gun victim sues police

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The father of a man who had soaked himself in gasoline during a 2009 domestic dispute is suing the Pennsylvania State Police because his son caught fire when a trooper used a stun gun to subdue him.

Shawn Mohney’s federal civil rights suit filed Tuesday says 24-year-old Levi Mohney suffered burns over 98 percent of his body during the March 2009 incident at a mobile home where Levi Mohney’s girlfriend lived. The residence is in Strattenville, Clarion County.

State police are not commenting on the lawsuit. But Shawn Mohney’s attorney tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that there was no need to use the electric stun gun on Levi Mohney because “he wasn’t armed. He wasn’t posing a direct threat to the officers.”

Troopers were responding to a report that Levi Mohney had assaulted his girlfriend.