This story is freaking me out :(

I can't get this out of my mind all day...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,509611,00.html


Woman is pumping gas, her car gets slammed into by a truck that was hit by an SUV. The woman is pinned between the gas pump and her minivan and the gas pump catches fire. According to witnesses she was standing there screaming "Help me! Help me! I'm going to die". She covered her face with her hands as the flamed engulfed her and she was burned alive.

She was 18 years old and her name was Whitney Hendrickson.

I can't even imagine the poor child's suffering and terror. I can't figure out why someone didn't get in their car and ram the minivan to let her get away.... one guy tried to run over with a fire extinguisher but a firefighter yelled at him to get back. That poor girl died in terror, with people around watching her.

I can't get it out of my mind. I'm going to have nightmares about this.

Has anyone else been really struck by something they read in the news?

 

thats ****ed up. prayers for her.

 

That is horrible. How quickly, and in this case randomly, a life can end. Thoughts and prayers with the family.

 

Wow.

So Sad.

 

My God. I can't imagine what that poor girl went through and what her family is going through now. RIP ..

 

+1. horrible story.

 

how scary. I'm glad I read this after I pumped gas today instead of before or I'd have been scared to.

 

Horrible way to go...

My sister was driving cross country when she witnessed a car/truck accident. Car was on fire, passengers screaming as they burnt to death. She said it was way too hot to help them.

 

Actually, this. I've been thinking about it all day also.

No sense faulting the firefighter for telling the man with the extinguisher to get back. You aren't going to put out a gasoline fire with a stupid fire extinguisher, and if the pump had exploded it would've been two lives instead of one. For my part, I can't figure out exactly how she was trapped - descriptions of exactly what happened are very complicated and, bearing in mind that the van has dual sliding doors, I can't understand how she could've been completely trapped by fire. Either way, it's incredibly sad and it's even more chilling knowing it could've been practically anyone.

 

Awful.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm OCD about running such a scenario through my mind when I'm performing menial tasks like this. Always have an out.. I've been on the giving end of stupid far too many times not to know better.

 

There.

 

You'd think so, but I'm now a dull butter knife when compared to my past and have caused more (non-malicious) pain than I want to acknowledge.

 

My worst nightmare burning to death, i dont even want to imagine what this poor kid went through

 

This is horrific.

Its also my worse nightmare, along with being trapped in a car under water.

 

This beyond heartbreaking and scary. God bless her sould and her family. My prayers are with them

I swear I think about this almost everytime I fill up with gas or am walking down a street. The possibility of this exact thing happening. It scares the hell out of me. I try to remember to fill up as far away from the street as possible.

I'm beyond speechless. I'm wondering there was something someone could have done? Or if everyone just stood around?

My cousin lives in CO Springs. I wonder if she may know this girl?

 

a couple of days ago, i was pumping gas and i heard a bunch of sirens. It was rush hour on a main street. the traffic was bumper to bumper and i was at a big intersection with all the cars stopped at the light. all the sudden a mini pickup truck comes flying up the wrong side of the road because his side was blocked by about 100 cars. he cuts into the gas station and drives right past me about 10 feet away at high rate of speed with about 10 cop cars hot on his tail. I looked right into his terrified eyes. still not sure how he cut through there and through three lanes of bumper to bumper traffic and got away. That came real close to ending badly for me. Strangely, i was on the phone with another f-chatter as it happened. pretty wild. about 20 years ago i was at the same intersection walking from my car in the parking lot and the same thing happened. only that time it was a uhaul truck and he slammed into another car then ran into a low brick wall surrounding the parking lot about 10 feet away from me. he didn't get away. in fact, i watched him get a wooden shampoo from the cops close up.

sad to hear about this girl. reminded me of a documentary i watched last night about darfur. countless people have been tied up and burned alive over there. Including many small children and woman. not a pretty sight.

 

Anyone else find it rather alarming that the driver was charged with a mere misdemeanor?

 

Her hands were free, so it must have been her leg or foot or something. Around here the gas stations have a concrete filled metal pole at either end of the pump, presumably to stop cars from crashing into the pump (at low speed, of course). I can see a situation where someone got trapped between that and their vehicle, or their foot got squished between the curb that the pump sits on and the wheel of their car.

I just can't get the image of this girl out of my mind, being trapped, screaming and asking for help, and covering her face with her hands as the flames engulfed her. It is utterly tragic. I am not sure something has affected me like this before... I've just been sad and depressed since I heard about it.

I remember when I worked in Boston, I was on the train and it was one that went through regular city streets... one guy tried to cut in front of the train but it hit him and killed him. It was a messy sight, but in some way it wasn't so bad because he did something really stupid, and had been yapping on his phone. This one, this poor little girl was just pumping gas... and just her actions and cries for help and putting her hands over her face are just tearing me up.

 

That's scary. Thankfully no one was hurt.

I was filling up at my normal gas station last week and hear sirens. I'm watching the police fly by. Then I look and notice a Metro Bus about to go straight through the intersection. He almost got taken out by a fire truck. My heart skipped a beat.

 

What happened to her is tragic, but I think the feelings of emotion that you've been overcome with are good - they remind you that you're human. It happens to the best of us.

 

I think what may have been bothering you is that most people did not make any effort to save her. On guy who did, got held back!

However, someone did was able to take the picture of the burning car. I'd like to kick that person in his/her gonads.

 

I'm always amazed at how many tragic incidents get filmed & end up on TV or YouTube. Air show plane crashes, car accidents, animal attacks, Rodney King beating. If I saw something happening, my first instinct would be drop the camera & run, hide, help, call 911 or whatever depending on the circumstances.

A professional cameraman/newsreporter I can understand, but a lot of this footage is by amateurs.

 

If I understood the article correctly, I thought there was at least 3 people who tried to help. The victims friend who was in the passenger seat, the individual who immediately ran to push the gas kill switch and the guy with the fire extinguisher. IIRC, the article said the fire started almost instantaneously. I think it just was one of those freak accidents that happened so suddenly that there was no time to react. By the time it took to understand what just happened and figure out what do I do...it was too late due to the intense heat that probably became unbearable within a matter of a couple seconds. That type of fire produces an incredible amount of heat very rapidly.

I'm sure by the time the guy with the fire extinguisher was in a position to use it, it was too late and he wouldn't have been able to get close enough for the extinguisher to be effective. He had a greater chance of becoming a victim as well.

I do agree with your feelings of extreme frustration concerning incidents where people decide to not help someone who's in desperate need. Unfortunately tho IMO, this was one of those freak accidents where there just simply wasn't enough time. It is an incredibly tragic incident that, like Mike, has gripped my heart ever since I found out about it. My thoughts and prayers go out to The young woman's family.