‘#sooooembarrassing.’ Pasco police sergeant caught on camera with gas nozzle still in tank
A Pasco police sergeant is getting some social media ribbing after driving from a gas station with the nozzle still in his tank.
A fellow driver caught the patrol car on video as he drove with the nozzle and hose hanging out of the car on Road 68. The video was posted on the Facebook group Tri-Cities Bad Driver Shaming on Sunday night.
What commenters didn’t know was the story behind the errant nozzle.
Pasco police filled in the details on Monday morning. The police sergeant had been filling his car at a Fourth Avenue gas station when he decided to clean the windshield. He grabbed the squeegee and got to work.
“A call came out. It sounded pretty important. He thought he should go,” Pasco police said on Facebook. “He hung up the squeegee, hopped in this car and headed that way.”
But he forgot that the gas nozzle was still in the car. As he pulled away, he took it with him.
Gas pump hoses are designed to disconnect if that happens and not spill gasoline everywhere.
When he got to the scene, other officers teased him and tagged the Facebook post with #soooooembarrassing, #bluetoothfueling and #driveofshame.
While the initial post got about 20 comments and 70 shares, Pasco police’s post quickly became popular with hundreds of comments.
Several people thanked the police for showing a sense of humor and for admitting the mistake. There were also a few people who offered jokes.
“Air to air refueling? So you’re in the Air Force now?” one commenter said.
“I hope the beans were good with that side of gas,” another person said.
Many shared similar experiences.
The police shared information about what happens when someone else drives off with the nozzle still in the car. While embarrassing, it’s not a crime if you didn’t know it happened. But once you spot it, you need to return it.
“At that point you have knowingly kept someone else’s property, even if you just threw it in a Dumpster,” police said.
Officers will stop a driver if they see a nozzle hanging out of a car, since it could be the sign the driver is intoxicated or distracted. They’ll let you know about it and that it needs to be returned.
“It indicates a kind of inattention, like not having your lights on at night,” police said. “We stop people for leaving purses on roofs and gas caps on trunk lids, too.”
This story was originally published August 2, 2021 at 2:14 PM.