Jacksonville man smoked crack after face burned by car fire, police say

A man said he smoked crack on Feb. 11 after his face was severely burned because of a car fire in Jacksonville.

Zachary Allen Shultz, 25, said he smoked crack after being burned because "It helped with the pain."

The Jacksonville Fire Rescue responded on Feb. 10 to the car fire near Arbor Terrace on San Jose Boulevard. The car was listed as stolen and had been involved in an aggravated assault against a police officer, the police report said.

Authorities said they saw a man waving at them, who then fled the scene. The area was searched and surveillance video from the nearby Old Kings Food Mart captured the same man missing a shoe.

Officers said they found the other shoe at the car fire scene.

A day later, officers arrested Shultz while answering a call about a theft in process at the Scottish Inn. Shultz was also the same man accused of stealing money from a Toys for Tots donation jar at Flame Broiler in December. 

When Shultz opened the door to his room, officers said that his face, arms and hands were severely burned. Officers recognized the man as the one they saw near the car fire.

Shultz was then arrested and taken to the hospital for treatment.

During questioning, Schultz said he tried to start a fire in his uncle's house. He said he used gasoline to start the fire, which caused him to get burned.

Shultz said he burned the stolen van from the previous day and that he got the van from a "dope boy" on Philips Highway.

He said the car started to spark near the steering wheel and pulled over to try to fix it. He said he took out a lighter to look in the van to see what was sparking and then the van went up in flames, the report said.

Shultz, who said he was burned by the fire, ran away from the scene. Shultz then said that his injuries didn't hurt because he "was smoking crack, and it helped with the pain."

Cox Media Group