KEY POINTS

  • The couple had an argument that soon escalated 
  • Husband Rashad Brown suffered severe burns injuries to his legs, back, and arms
  • Wife Adrian Cain said, "I did not mean to hurt him as bad as I did"

A man in South Carolina is being treated for acute burns after his wife sprayed gas on him and set him ablaze during an argument at a gas station.

Police and paramedics responded to the scene in Florence on Saturday after receiving reports of a man being set on fire. The officers rushed the victim, identified as Rashad Brown, to a local hospital with severe burns injuries to his legs, back, and arms, CBS-affiliated television station WBTW reported.

Investigation revealed that Brown and his wife, 38-year-old Adrian Cain, were having an argument, which soon escalated after the man snatched her phone.

"I stuck my nozzle in the truck. And went on her side to go try to talk to her. But she still was on the phone. So, I took the phone out of her hand. She took her nozzle out of the gas, out of her car and poured it on me and on the truck. And she was like, 'Either give me the phone or I am going to set you on fire!' And I was like, 'Man, you ain’t crazy enough to do that.' And before I could finish the words, she had done struck the lighter," Brown told ABC News 4 Wednesday.

Within the next few moments, Brown was on fire.

"I am steady running, trying to get my shirt off. Because my shirt was the first thing that flashed up in my face. That’s how I got a little burn mark on my nose. So I’m trying to get the shirt off, but my pants are burning, now two-finger, so I’m trying to pull everything off at one time. Still yelling, like, 'Oh my God! Oh my God!' I’m rolling around in the grass. And then I noticed the ditch when I couldn’t get my shoes off. So I just rolled toward the ditch and jumped in the ditch," he told the outlet.

A couple tried to help him till paramedics arrived. In the meantime, Cain fled the scene in their car. Police were able to trace her and take her into custody. During her arrest, Cain told the officers, "I did not mean to hurt him as bad as I did."

Cain appeared in court Tuesday and was charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.

Brown, with burns on 58% of his body, remained in the hospital as of Wednesday.

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Representational image Photo by Pixabay (CC0)