Man Killed In Fiery Crash At Dania Beach Gas Station
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DANIA BEACH (CBSMiami) – One person is dead after a fiery crash at a Dania Beach gas station.
Just after 9 p.m., a car slammed into a pump at the BP gas station at SE 7th Street and S Federal Highway.
"The gas station by the pump was totally involved, the flames were pretty high, they were shooting up high, there were sparks and many explosions," said Michael Wolf.
"When we heard it we turned around, we didn't want no part of that," said Torrance Hunt.
Wednesday morning distraught relatives came to the crash scene. The Broward Sheriff's Office identified the driver who died as 18-year-old Jose Villeda Romero.
They say he moved to South Florida about eight months ago, found a job ,and was sending money back to his family in the Honduras.
"He always went really fast in his car, my family used to tell him to calm down and slow down because you're going to get in a car accident one day. He would not listen sometimes and he would just go whenever he got mad at us or someone else," said cousin Jessica Sanders.
Scott Robb, who was riding his motorcycle south on Federal Highway, said he stopped when he saw debris flying across the road. Robb said he went to put the flames out with a fire extinguisher but it wasn't working.
"I pulled the pin and there was no pin in it. I went to pull the handle and nothing came out, I looked at the gauge and it was empty," said Robb. "So I turned around to the front of the store and saw the employees videotaping with their phones. I saw the button for the emergency shut off for the pumps so I ran over and hit the emergency shut and that killed the power to the pumps."
People who live the area said it's not uncommon for drivers to take the speed bumps too fast on SE 7th Street where the driver lost control.
"And then I heard a really loud thump which was the car bottoming out on the speed hump, then I heard the next thump which was the car landing, and then I looked, you know I ran to the window and I looked up and all I saw was just this black plume (of smoke)," said T.J. Gillespie.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.