Man crashes SUV through Pinson BP gas station

A Jefferson County gas station is set to re-open tomorrow after a car crashed through and severely damaged the building earlier this week.

The key facts come from Pinson, where, as we reported, following an incident with store workers, a man driving an SUV crashed through the front of the store and just missed hitting and injuring an employee. 

The store owner, Freddie West, said he plans to re-open Friday. 

Today, workers were on the scene nearly a week later trying to clean up what took just seconds to destroy.

“It was like a scene out of a movie.” That’s how the owner described what happened last weekend.

It all started when a customer came into his store and began telling one of his workers and a customer they were going to die.

The customer left, and tried to pump gas. The store worker told him he must pay first.  The customer came back in the store, gave the clerk $4, and told the people inside again, they are going to die.

He went back outside, but never pumped any gas.  Then, the crash.

The crash barley missed the store worker who was in the office at the time.

The story doesn’t end there. Sheriff’s deputies arrived and tried go get the man to get out of the vehicle.  When he didn’t get out, emergency workers back out of the store.

Then, the man attempted to rush out and was met with a tazer.

Officers then secured the man on the ground.

Police arrested Roger Maze, 49, who was jailed and held on $63,000 bond.  Maze had been a customer of the store for some time.  Deputies said he crashed through the building because “he says” the gas pump was not turned on.

Store owner West disagrees, saying Maze was not refused gas.

Meanwhile, since the video of the crash first went public, West says he has received lots of phone calls.

“I’d like to thank everybody for their concern,” he said.
   
West has owned the store for 25 years.

We called this afternoon and Maze is still in the Jefferson County jail.