An incendiary spectacle at a Boston gas station was captured on video earlier this week, when a white SUV slammed into a standing pump and ignited a huge fireball.
Incredibly, there were no injuries.
The station’s surveillance cameras show a scene out of a cartoon: The young woman driving a white Acura MDX pulls into the station in Roslindale, a residential neighborhood just south of downtown Boston, and backs up, apparently to access an air dispenser.
Accidentally, she bumps into a parked pickup truck, then instantly accelerates forward and smashes into the pump, which erupts into flames. The SUV continues across the lot at speed and rams into two parked cars.
When he hears the pump explode, station owner Arthur Mantas grabs a fire extinguisher and rushes to the fire. He sprays it, emptying the extinguisher’s tank, before the integrated gas station fire suppression system sprays down the whole scene with retardant.
According to Mantas, who spoke to station WCVB, the emergency system “knocked me to my knees. I had to cross the street. I couldn’t even breathe … I feel like I was stupid. I should have ran away.” The owners of the Alfa Express station estimate the damage at about $100,000.
Apparently the woman driving the Acura did run away, as shown in the video. She was treated at a nearby hospital, Boston police said. As to why the woman acted as she did or if the car was defective, the unnamed driver’s daughter told police her mother had put the transmission in drive when she meant to put it into park just before she crashed. No charges have been filed.
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