A 32-year-old Salem man who police say caught fire when shocked with a Taser after a high-speed pursuit last August has been charged with felony fleeing.
Fernando Lopez-Aguilar received treatment for “extensive burns,” according to an affidavit by Springfield police officer Julio Garcia-Cash.
Police said after the pursuit that gas cans in the vehicle caught fire and an officer sustained minor burns. Lopez-Aguilar received treatment at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend, police said.
In addition to fleeing, Lopez-Aguilar was also charged July 14 in Lane County Circuit Court with DUII and resisting arrest.
Lopez-Aguilar is alleged to have been “driving erratically through parking lots” with no headlights at about 2:20 a.m. Aug. 29, 2025, in the area of Gateway Street and Randy Papé Beltline, the affidavit said.
An officer attempted to pull over Lopez-Aguilar, who then allegedly fled west on Beltline swerving “all over the road” at speeds between 80 mph and 100 mph.
According to an officer, Lopez-Aguilar then doubled back, driving east in the westbound lanes. At some point Lopez-Aguilar “intentionally rammed” a patrol vehicle, according to the affidavit.
After briefly exiting at Coburg Road, Lopez-Aguilar continued to flee by driving east on Beltline and then Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway. At Riverbend Drive, police used a “pursuit intervention technique” maneuver to end the chase.
“The vehicle and Lopez-Aguilar both caught fire from a Taser discharge,” Garcia-Cash wrote in the affidavit. “Lopez-Aguilar then proceeded to move around [the] vehicle and strip his flaming clothes off. Once naked, and no longer on fire, Lopez-Aguilar ran from pursuing police officers on scene.”
Police said multiple officers at the scene were able to detain Lopez-Aguilar.
Lopez-Aguilar has been ordered to appear Aug. 5 for an arraignment hearing.

