The effects of the cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline included a painful lesson for a South Carolina woman who was hoarding gasoline.
Jessica Dale Patterson, 28, caught fire Thursday after her vehicle crashed, flipped and burst into flames while Patterson was attempting to elude law enforcement officials, authorities said.
The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office said the accident occurred after a deputy attempted to stop a 2007 Pontiac G6 with a stolen license plate.
Patterson was taken to a hospital, the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release, but her condition had not been released.
“Before leaving the scene, Ms. Patterson told deputies that she was transporting several containers of fuel that she was hoarding in the trunk,” officials said. “These containers of fuel were the catalyst of the explosions.”
The hack caused Colonial Pipeline networks to temporarily shut down and caused gas shortages across the Southeast. There have been several instances of panic-buying even as the gas transport has resumed.
Colonial, a primary artery for transporting fuel, released a statement saying, in part: “Following this restart, it will take several days for the product delivery supply chain to return to normal.”
As for the accident, the sheriff’s office said in a statement: “The deputy … activated his vehicle’s siren. Before the deputy could complete radio traffic with the Communications center, the driver of the Pontiac lost control of the vehicle leaving the roadway and completely flipping the vehicle.”
“The deputy pushed Ms. Patterson to the ground in order to put out the flames,” the sheriff’s office said.
The crash occurred a day after a 2004 Hummer carrying containers of gas “burst into flames” at a Citrus County, Fla., gas station, according to the Miami Herald. One person was hurt but not hospitalized.
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