Close Call: Auburn Gas Station Worker Nearly Hit By Truck That Plowed Through Pump
AUBURN (CBS13) – It was a close call on the job as an Auburn gas station worker avoided being hit with some literal pain at the pump. The near-miss was captured on surveillance video.
That lucky employee says his slow-moving nature saved his life.
"The first thing that we do is we come and we see if there's too much debris," said Jesse Huizar, a Texaco employee. "If there's too much debris, we empty them all out and that's what I was doing at the time."
Huizar was just going about his shift when a Ford truck got a little too close for comfort.
"And then I see the bottom of this truck just flying through," Huizar said.
Security camera footage captured the chaos outside a Texaco gas station in Auburn.
An elderly woman was getting off I-80 at Lincoln Way when investigators say she plowed through a stop sign, flew across the intersection and headed straight for Huizar.
"She bounced off of here and then proceeded to bounce off over there," Huizar said. "It was amazing, man. Two minutes earlier, I'm in trouble. I'm glad I'm an old, slow man."
The truck took out a gas pump and went airborne, landing between two cars and what's known as "vapor separator" equipment that is highly flammable.
"It all happened so fast," said Tina Kaspar, manager at Texaco. "So until we looked at the camera, did we really realize the magnitude of it."
Kaspar is the manager. She ran to shut off the pumps and make sure the driver and Huizar were OK.
"We nicknamed him Lucky now," Kaspar said. "He definitely has an angel. We know that."
While crews work to install a new pump, Jesse says he knows his life was spared by mere inches but has no concerns about heading back to work.
The driver suffered some cuts and bruises but is expected to be OK. The CHP says DUI does not appear to be a factor in the crash.
