SAGINAW (WJRT) -- (03/26/09)--Filling up your vehicle with gas is a routine chore, but for a Saginaw man, it was anything but.
His visit to the gas station lasted about four hours and ended with a trip to the hospital.
Everything was going fine for Victor Harris until he tried to put some gas treatment into his tank.
When you asked people what they saw at the 7-Eleven in Saginaw, you heard something you don't normally hear.
"I saw a guy standing outside his car right here with his finger stuck in his gas tank," said witness Justin Lagan.
The fire department heard the same thing.
"Apparently, a gentleman had his finger trapped in his gas tank," said Saginaw Fire Department Battalion Chief Edgar Johnson.
That's right. The owner of a Lincoln Navigator got his finger stuck in his gas tank at around 5 a.m. He was putting some gas treatment.
"A piece of paper was around the little hole, so I just tried to put my little finger in there, rub it off," Harris said. "My finger just slipped in there. It was like, 'Dang, it won't come out.'"
Harris tried for about two hours to get his finger out. He called one friend and he couldn't help, and then some co-workers stopped by.
"He's pretty much hiding beside his truck, like pretty much leaning on his truck to get his hand out," said co-worker David Ornelas.
"We had to be careful of not creating any sparks and removing his finger without cutting his finger off," Johnson said.
Fire crews and emergency personnel were on the scene for another two hours. They eventually sawed into the vehicle and freed Harris -- sort of.
"Still attached to the pole, the gas tank, so they took the gas tank along with me," Harris said.
They took him to St. Mary's Hospital, and after another 30 minutes, they got the long pipe off his finger. A four-and-a-half-hour ordeal ended with a little lesson.
"Don't stick my finger back in the gas tank," Harris said. "Shoot."
Harris got two stitches in his finger for his trouble.
