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SAN JOSE — A San Jose boy is lucky to be alive, and uninjured, after he and some friends decided to try a stunt they saw in the movie “Jackass.” 

The 14-year-old was spotted running down North Sixth Street in the downtown area by a San Jose Police officer on patrol Tuesday. The officer noticed him because he was yelling -- and his sweatshirt was on fire. 

“The flames were going above his head,” San Jose Police spokesman Sgt. Steve Dixon said this morning. 

The officer immediately pulled over, got a fire extinguisher from the trunk of her patrol car and sprayed the boy down.  

Amazingly, he suffered no burns and did not require any medical treatment, according to Dixon, who attributes that to the officer being in the right place at the right time. 

After the boy had been extinguished, the officer noticed a wet shirt around his neck. Dixon said the boy told her he and his friends had just seen the movie “Jackass” and he volunteered to be the guinea pig when the three decided to emulate one of the stunts for fun. 

The shirt had been dampened with lighter fluid. 

The boy was returned home to his mother, who “was not very happy,” Dixon said. 

“Jackass,” a movie based on the controversial MTV television series, stars Johnny Knoxville and a group of men who go around performing “a variety of strange, painful and often humiliating stunts for the amusement of themselves and those around them,” according to the movie's producers. 

Both the television series and the movie begin with this warning: “The following show features stunts performed either by professionals or under the supervision of professionals. Accordingly, MTV and the producers must insist that no one attempt to recreate or reenact any stunt or activity performed on this show. MTV insists that our viewers do not send in any home  

footage of themselves or others being jackasses. We will not open or view any submissions, so don't waste your time.” 

Regardless of the warning, Tuesday's incident in San Jose isn't the first time life has tried to imitate the new-age “art.” 

In January 2001, a 13-year-old Connecticut boy suffered second-degree burns when he copied a “Jackass” stunt in which Knoxville laid down on a barbecue in a fire-resistant suit hung with steaks. 

An 11-year-old boy, also from Connecticut, burned himself copying a stunt in which he soaked a rag with engine degreaser, wrapped it around his leg and set it on fire. 

In April 2001, an Ohio teen was injured after trying to jump over a moving car, a stunt that his friends videotaped and that spawned a lawsuit from the teen's parents.