Car Drives Off With Gas Hose Attached, Pouring Gas On Pregnant OKC Woman

Charlie Thompson said she was filling up her tank at a 7-Eleven when the next thing the expectant mother knew, gasoline was pouring on top of her.

Thursday, March 3rd 2011, 1:02 pm

By: News 9


Jon Jordan, News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Charlie Thompson said she was filling up her tank at a 7-Eleven when the next thing the expectant mother knew, gasoline was pouring on top of her.

"At first I thought it was water but when the strong smell of gasoline hit me, I realized this was a very serious situation," Charlie Thompson said.

Thompson, who is seven months pregnant, said she was filling up her family's car when the car filling up on the pump beside her drove off with the hose still attached. After the car got far enough, Thompson said the hose immediately snapped off, but the gasoline didn't stop pouring out and onto her.

Fortunately, Charlie Thompson said her husband was quick to react.

"My husband had to rip my three-year-old from the backseat of my car, while a bystander helped me take my gas soaked shirt off and rinse my face, arms, and exposed legs off at the faucet at the end of the building, while the driver of the vehicle that caused all this had to go inside and request the attendant to hit the emergency shut off button," Thompson said.

The entire time Thompson said there was little she could do.

"I was in total shock. My husband went and pulled my gas soaked car away from the pump, rushed me and my son home to jump in a shower, and thankfully I didn't live too far away so we didn't have to breathe in the gas fumes from my soaked car for too long," Thompson said.

Thompson said she contacted 7-Eleven where the incident happened but has received little explanation or an apology. She is speaking out hoping what happens to her doesn't happen to someone else. Thompson just so happens to have worked at the same 7-Eleven where the incident occurred.

"I never saw gas pour out like that. I did see that happen where someone would drive off with the hose, but I never saw gas just pour out like that," she said.

"[Hoses] will not pour out," said Sam Vong, the district manager of Excel Express which owns Oklahoma's Valero gas stations. "Whenever they drive off with the hose, basically the [hose] breaks off and detaches, there is no gas running after that."

Something Thompson said did not happen at the 7-Eleven where she tried filling up.

"We are very lucky, I think it could have gone the other way and been horrible, the car could have exploded, we could be blind, it's a scary thing," Thompson added.

After the incident, Thompson visited with her doctor to make sure the gasoline wouldn't harm her unborn child.

"We concluded that my unborn son is okay," Charlie Thompson said.

Late Thursday afternoon 7-Eleven issued this statement:

"We at 7-Eleven are aware of the incident involving a failed breakaway hose at the dispenser. This type of incident is extremely rare."

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