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A car collides with a gas pump at an Exxon station on July 4 in Clarksville, Tenn.
A Tennessee man is in critical but stable condition after suffering burns over 40 percent of his body in a fiery July 4 gas station accident caught on video.
Chris Porter of Clarksville was walking through the parking lot of an Exxon station when a wayward driver struck a pump right next to where Porter was walking.
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Chris Porter survived the fiery accident, but is in critical but stable condition.
Surveillance video captured the explosion and Porter’s efforts to douse the flames from his body by rolling on the ground.
“He did everything properly,” Nashville Assistant Fire Marshal Maggie Lawrence told KSDK. “I was very pleased to see he did not panic and run, because if he had panicked and ran it would’ve fed the fire. He would’ve been burned; I’m sure, a whole lot worse than what he was.”
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The driver, John Ward, has not been charged, but an investigation is ongoing.
Porter underwent surgery Tuesday at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, a hospital official told the Daily News.
Driver John Ward, who was not seriously injured, says he blacked out behind the wheel, but blood tests won’t come back for a month, Sgt. Charles Gill of the Clarksville Police Dept. told The News.
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Porter rolled on the ground and likely was able to minimize the burns on his body, experts say.
Investigators are expected to take the case to the grand jury to see if there’s probable cause for an arrest, Gill said.