Milwaukee Citizens, Excited Over Free Gas, Have Fights and Wrecks

Milwaukee was ranked Number 1 among mid-size American cities on the insurance company’s safe driver list, so the company decided to give the city a reward. A tanker truckload of gasoline was delivered to a gas station and told citizens of Milwaukee that it would be pumped for free. Little did the company know that their generosity would cause chaos and insurance claims.

Hundreds of drivers began queuing up in the wee hours of the morning. Clarence Jefferson drove to the station at 4:00 a.m. thinking he would be one of the first in line, but hundreds of cars were already ahead of him. The pumps were not turned on until about 6:00 a.m., and by then the line of cars stretched from the station for several miles into a residential area. The drivers in line waited patiently for hours just to get about $30 worth of free gasoline. "It doesn’t matter," Jefferson said. "It helps. Every bit is worth it."

Some of the cars in line trapped residents in their driveways, which resulted in arguments and confrontations that ended up with four people being arrested and two vehicles crashing. Police spokeswoman Anne Schwartz said that three police officers were sent to a hospital as a precaution, because their clothes were splattered with blood after they pulled a person with a bloody nose from a fight. The two wrecks happened when motorists in line tried to let friends in line ahead of them. "Any time you offer free gas when it is $3 a gallon, it is not surprising people would get excited," Schwartz said.