CAR EXPLODES AFTER
DRIVER HITS GAS PUMP
Four year old boy in car; both uninjured in accident

Yellow tape surrounds the place where a $25,000 gas pump once stood.
Photo by Adam Diaz/TCS

By Jon Mayhew

LINCOLNTON -- An Iron Station woman is arrested and charged with child abuse and driving while impaired after she plowed her car into a gas pump.

The incident happened around 1:45 a.m. Friday at the Little Market Basket at 1404 East Main Street.

Sources at the scene said a witness driving down East Main Street saw the accidentand pulled Daffney Crystal Nicholson, 24, of Iron Station, and her four-year-old son out of Nicholson's 1988 Volkswagen Jetta after the car caught fire.

Lincolnton Police officer Richard Harrington witnessed the aftermath of the accident, where a fireball could be seen more than 20 feet in the air.

"She completely knocked the pump off onto the ground," said Harrington.

The entire incident was caught on Officer Harrington's in-car video camera.

Nicholson, who officers said had a "moderate odor of alcohol on her breath," told police she was going to a friend's birthday party at the time of the accident.

Authorities took Nicholson into custody at the scene and charged her with driving while impaired; injury to real property; misdemeanor child abuse; driving while license revoked; and driving while consuming an alcoholic beverage.

Nicholson also had two charges of failing to appear in court on speeding and DWI.

The four-year-old wasn't injured. The Lincolnton Police Department incident report didn't indicate if the child was turned over to custody of the Lincoln County Department of Social Services.

Bond was set at $1,800 secured. As of late Sunday night, Nicholson was still at the Harven A. Crouse Detention Center.