Firefighters had to use the jaws of life to free a Derby woman trapped in her car after she crashed into the gas pumps at Mont’s Mart, a gas station at 198 Leavenworth Road in Shelton, Wednesday night.
The woman, identified by police as Susan Linnane, 41, was rushed to St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport for treatment of “non-life-threatening” injuries.
The accident occurred about 8:45 p.m., according to a prepared statement from Lt. Robert Kozlowsky.
Linnane was driving a Mazda south on Leavenworth Road when she hit another car, then hit a guardrail before going down an embankment and colliding with the gas pump.
Gas leaked onto the ground and a heavy odor of petroleum was in the air, according to emergency radio dispatches.
An emergency radio dispatcher advised the gas station employees to hit the emergency shut off to stop the flow of gas. The initial radio dispatches describe a dangerous scene, as smoke rose from the car while gas flowed from the pump.
Shelton firefighters were there within minutes.
It took about seven minutes to cut the woman from the car.
Kozlowsky said police are investigating the crash, and no enforcement action had been taken as of about noon Thursday (July 24).
Mont’s Mart manager Jackie Nash said Thursday morning that the gas station turned over surveillance footage from the crash to police, but declined to release the video, referring a reporter to police.
The Valley Indy sent a freedom of information request seeking a copy of the video to Shelton police Thursday.
The gas pumps at Mont’s Mart were off Thursday morning. Nash said the business was waiting for the pumps to be tested.
“It’s been a long night,” she said.
Click here for the Echo Hose Hook and Ladder Facebook page, where general information was posted during the incident.
Amy Glover, a reader of the Valley Indy Facebook page, said she was in her car with her boyfriend at a red light when she was struck by another car, which then flipped over and hit the gas pump.
“I could have died, my boyfriend could have died, and so many people in Shelton tonight are lucky to be alive because there could have been a serious explosion or deaths from her recklessness,” Glover wrote.
However, a woman describing herself as a friend of Linnane’s family indicated on the Valley Indy’s Facebook page that the car may have had a mechanical problem immediately before the wreck.
Click here to read the thread from the Valley Indy Facebook page.
