A man who set himself on fire and jumped off a cliff in Arkansas was rescued after his rape hearing was postponed

SEARCY, Ark. (TMX) – An Arkansas man who set himself on fire before jumping off a cliff on Monday is scheduled to go to trial in January on rape charges involving a teenager.

The White County Sheriff’s Office responded to Riverside Park in White County on Monday “after someone was heard calling for help in the area below the cliffs,” Lt. Scott Seiders told the White County Citizen.

Seiders was among the first to respond to the scene and told the news outlet that he “could see the man down the cliff and about 20 feet into the river.”

The Searcy Fire Department was called to the scene for a “high angle rescue and water extraction.” Seiders said he ran at the bottom of the cliffs until he reached the man, identified as 31-year-old Daniel Selby.

Even though he had been there for nearly three hours, Selby was “conscious and alert.” Seiders said he had “a visible fracture to his leg, several impact injuries, and second- and third-degree burns to his upper body.”

Seiders said Selby told him he “set himself on fire with lighter fluid before going over the edge of the cliff.” Selby was eventually rescued and transported to a waiting ambulance for transport to a local hospital.

Selby is accused of rape involving a teenager in March 2023. The jury trial was scheduled to begin Jan. 13, 2025, but Seiders said it “will most likely be postponed until he recovers.”

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