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Van crashes into gas pump, ignites at Clearwater station
By CHRISTINA HEADRICK © St. Petersburg Times, published October 22, 2000 CLEARWATER -- The clerk at the J&B Shell gas station on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard heard a loud screech Saturday morning, looked over a Winston Lights display and watched with horror as a brown Dodge Ram van came crashing into pump No. 3. Tom Hartofilis, 58, said he saw gas squirt into the air as the van knocked the pump off its concrete base. Then as the van and the pump caught fire, Hartofilis said, he punched the red emergency gasoline shutoff valve behind the cashier's counter at the station. "If it wouldn't have been for the shutoff, the whole thing could have gone off," said Juan Blanco, owner of the gas station at 2498 Gulf-to-Bay Blvd. The two occupants of the Dodge van -- Donald Glover, 34, of 2236 Gulf-to-Bay Blvd., and his 14-year-old daughter -- were not injured seriously in the crash, said Clearwater police spokesman Wayne Shelor. They were treated at Mease Countryside Hospital in Safety Harborand released. Police were investigating the cause of the accident Saturday afternoon. It happened at 10:25 a.m., as Glover was heading south on Old Coachman Road and tried to slow down before a red light at Gulf-to-Bay, Shelor said. Glover made a right turn into the gas station's parking lot, then smashed into the gas pump and a concrete pole, Shelor said. "One of the parts of the investigation that continues is whether Mr. Glover may have hit his accelerator rather than the brakes," Shelor said. The 1983 van bounced backward more than 12 feet after hitting the pump and pole, then was destroyed in the ensuing fire. As soon as the accident happened, several men in the parking lot of Home Depot ran across Gulf-to-Bay and help pull Glover and his daughter out of the van, said Joe McCormick, 25, who was pulling into the gas station when the wreck occurred. The men helped the van's occupants to the grass near the curb and then left, said McCormick. McCormick pulled out his cellular phone and called 911. Dispatchers sent 11 emergency vehicles. Hartofilis, who had worked in the Shell station for two years, said he was trapped briefly inside the gas station's small store after the accident. The dislodged pump was leaning against the door, blocking him in. "The van was on fire. The pump was on fire. The door was on fire," he said. "And I was trying to get out." He said he was able to push the door open slightly and get away from the fire, which was quickly put out by Clearwater firefighters. Blanco said his business sustained as much as $100,000 in damage. Windows were smashed and another pump and a computer system might be ruined. A 12-pack of Michelob Light, dropped by a customer running to get out of the way of the accident, was left by the door of the store.
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