Man Dies After Setting Himself Afire : Port Hueneme: The victim drops a match in an open gas can. A police officer is nearly killed after flames reach his shirt sleeve.

A Port Hueneme man, upset after being arrested for riding a motorized tricycle in the street, died in a self-ignited inferno Friday that nearly claimed the life of a police officer seeking to calm him, authorities said.

Carlton A. Bell, 46, was found dead in his home at 636 E. Scott St. after the fire was extinguished, police said. Cause of death has not been determined pending an autopsy.

The victim’s mother, Herberta Bell, drove to Port Hueneme police headquarters at 1:23 p.m. to report that her son had become violent, shouting obscenities and throwing objects around their home, police reported.

“She asked that at least two cars go to the scene,” Lt. John Hopkins said. “She said he was so violent we’d need more than one officer.”

Officer Rollen Burns found Bell’s mother parked in a car a few houses away. As he approached the house, Burns saw Carlton Bell in the front yard brandishing a short-handled sledgehammer. Bell fled inside the house while Burns obtained house keys from the man’s mother and awaited backup, police said.

When police entered the home, Officer Larry Blinn heard noises from a rear bedroom and found Bell sitting on a bed with a kitchen knife at his side, a lit match in his hand and a five-gallon gasoline can open in front of him, Burns said.

The exchange between the officer and the man lasted less than 30 seconds, Hopkins said.

“He said, ‘You cops aren’t going to arrest me and beat me like last time,’ ” Hopkins said. “Officer Blinn told him to calm down, and he immediately dropped the match.”

Flame erupted from the mouth of the gas can, police said. As Blinn moved to smother it, Bell knocked the can toward him, setting the officer’s shirt sleeve on fire, igniting the carpet and sending a four-foot-high wall of flame shooting toward the door, police said.

“Within seconds, the flames just shot up and out, through the whole room,” said Burns, who was in the hallway. The bedroom was only nine feet square, he said.

Burns shouted to Blinn, directing him to a window. After extinguishing his burning uniform with a blanket, Blinn knocked out the window screen and jumped through the open window with flames at his heels.

Burns said there was no hope of reaching Bell. He reported hearing a muffled scream from the bedroom, where firefighters later found Bell’s body lying on the floor between the bed and the wall.

“Officer Blinn had tried to go back in, but he couldn’t get through the hallway,” Hopkins said. “Everyone retreated until the firefighters arrived.”

Blinn was acquainted with Bell from occasional encounters over Bell’s mid-road bike riding, Hopkins said.

“He’d tell Carlton to get off the street, and he’d start cussing and screaming, and Larry would just leave him alone.”

Bell was stopped by Oxnard police officers Tuesday for driving his tricycle in a traffic lane on Ventura Road and impeding traffic on the major thoroughfare, Hopkins said. Herberta Bell told police that her son was still very upset over the arrest and that it had led to his disturbance Friday, Detective Ken Dobbe said.

Oxnard Police Lt. Stan Myers said no information was available on the arrest.

Bell had no arrest record with the Port Hueneme Police Department, Hopkins said.

He was picked up by Port Hueneme police in 1984 and taken to Ventura County Mental Health Services, where he was placed under 72-hour observation, Hopkins said. No further information on the incident was available.

In addition, about four months ago, Bell accidentally burned down the small house he was renting on B Street, Dobbe said. Bell, who was living on his own at the time, told police he was putting gas in his motorized tricycle when he dropped his cigarette, igniting the fire.

After that fire, which was judged accidental, Bell returned to live with his mother, Dobbe said.

Bell was described by friends and neighbors as developmentally disabled. Police said he had some psychological problems that affected his behavior and was upset because he had lost his ability to read and write. One of his arms was unusable and he was no longer able to speak clearly, Dobbe said.

Bell’s handicap is believed to date from a car accident several years ago, Hopkins said. Bell recently had been taking Dilantin and phenobarbital, generally prescribed for seizures. He also had an arthritic condition that limited his mobility, Hopkins said.

Bell was well-known to police, who often stopped to warn him against riding his tricycle on busy streets.

“I would flag him down and sit and talk to him,” said Detective Chris Graham, recalling when he met Bell in 1985. “I’ve never known him to become violent.”

Graham said that Bell was “high-strung and would yell,” but that once he vented his frustrations he would calm down.

Neighbors said Bell was a familiar sight around the neighborhood, puttering in front of his house or cruising the area on his tricycle.

He sometimes collected tin cans in a cart attached to the back of the vehicle.

Anna Cervantes, 15, who lives two houses down from the Bells, said neighborhood children often taunted him because he limped and spoke oddly.

Robert Ellis, 26, who has known Bell all his life, said the Bells were longtime residents of the area.

Ellis was washing his car in the alley between his grandmother’s house and the Bell house when he “heard a bunch of ruckus” and saw smoke.

He ran to the Bell house and guided Herberta Bell, who was walking out the front door, and her Pekingese to his grandmother’s house.

Neighbors who gathered around the house said the blaze sent billows of black smoke into the air and ignited trees in the Bells’ back yard.

The fire did $65,000 worth of damage to the house, authorities said. One room was completely charred and there was extensive smoke and fire damage through the rest of the house, Dobbe said. Herberta Bell will stay with a neighbor, police said.