Woman stalls out on I-91 after learning she filled up with water instead of gas from Hartford station

HARTFORD, CT (WFSB) – Complaints of water instead of gas ending up in customers’ gas tanks were directed at a gas station in Hartford.

Several people claimed it happened after they filled up at the Phillips 66 Gas Station.

The result was damage to people’s cars.

The state Department of Consumer Protection asked anyone who may have had their cars damaged by the gas station to put in claims.

Channel 3 spoke with one woman who found out her car was affected.

“I had filled up my tank with $53 with I assumed was gas at the time,” said Selena Pineda, a victim. “I hopped on the highway [and] not even a minute or two minutes on the highway, my car stalled out.”

It happened around 11:30 p.m. on Monday. Pineda said she wasn’t thinking about the dollars and cents.

“Somebody could have hit me from behind,” she said.

She waited for a tow truck in heavy rain on Interstate 91.

She would later learn that she didn’t just have water pouring down on her car. She also had it running through the gas lines.

She believed it was the result of filling up at the Phillips 66 Gas Station in Hartford.

Two days later, she was still without her Kia. Pineda said she faced over $1,000 in damage.

After reaching out to the gas station’s owner, she said she learned she wasn’t the only one.

“He told me that six other people had called, prior to me calling saying that they had similar issues,” Pineda explained.

Channel 3 spoke to the owner too. While he didn’t want to go on camera, he said he has been working with his insurance company to reimburse people who were affected.

Pineda said she racked up expenses, and that she’s lucky to be alive.

“It’s just ridiculous,” she said. “A lot of innocent people could have gotten hurt.”

The gas station owner told Channel 3 that Monday’s heavy rains were likely to blame, and that they saturated the parking lot and got down into the station’s tanks.

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