A man doused himself with what appeared to be lighter fluid and then set himself ablaze while handcuffed and interacting with police officers in Denver’s Civic Center park on Thursday afternoon, authorities and witnesses said.

The man, engulfed in flames, then ran several hundred feet as officers and bystanders tried to put the fire out. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

“We do believe this was a suicide attempt,” said Doug Schepman, a Denver police spokesman.

Witnesses say the ordeal began about 1 p.m. after a civilian Denver Police Department employee was in the park and saw the man pouring a fluid on himself. The employee called police dispatch to request officers to check on the man.

According to witnesses, the man — whose name has not been released — had poured lighter fluid on himself.

Responding officers quickly made contact with the man, police say, and were in the process of placing him into protective custody — he had just been placed into handcuffs — when suddenly the man became engulfed in flames.

A video of the incident, taken by a witness and reviewed by The Denver Post, showed the man combust while surrounded by at least three Denver police officers. The recording shows the man in handcuffs and then make a motion with his arms before he was engulfed in flames.

The officers tried to beat the fire out as flames quickly covered his body.

“The cops came up and handcuffed a guy. And then a minute later he flicked a lighter while he was in handcuffs,” said witness Sean Corbett.

Big emergency response in Civic Center Park where witnesses say a man lit himself on fire. pic.twitter.com/NoLOFRo9ju — Jesse Aaron Paul (@JesseAPaul) April 13, 2017

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The man’s name has not been released. He was taken from the scene in an ambulance.

His charred clothes were left on a grassy area where a swarm of emergency responders tended him.

“He poured lighter fluid all over himself,” said witness Daniel Moore.

“They were going to arrest him. He poured lighter fluid all over himself,” said witness Mariana Morris.

One witness said the man had said something to police about refusing to be arrested before igniting himself. Another described the man as looking like a “torch” as he ran around ablaze.

The incident was witnessed by dozens of bystanders and people patronizing nearby food trucks during the lunch hour.

“The incident remains under investigation, at this time,” Schepman said in a written statement.

Witnesses say he doused himself in lighter fluid while interacting with police and ignited himself. "He looked like a torch," one man said — Jesse Aaron Paul (@JesseAPaul) April 13, 2017

“You see people get arrested here all the time so I didn’t think nothing of it,” said Steven Barrios Jr., another witness. “Everybody was running up with shirts and fire extinguishers to put him out..”

Barrios said flames on the man spanned two feet and trailed him as he ran from police.

“That was insane,” Barrios said. “He was completely on fire for more than a minute. He had fire all over his body. It will be a miracle if he survives.”