JACKSON COUNTY, Ga. – A sheriff in Georgia had to jump from a cruiser going 50 miles per hour yesterday after it caught on fire.
Deputy Gary Cox decided to light up a cigarette while driving one of the department’s environmentally friendly cruisers, which are partially fueled by propane.
The vehicle went up in flames so fast that the officer had to abort while the car was still in steady motion.
“He was traveling down the road like you or I,” Jackson County Sheriff Stan Evans said, “But evidently there was propane inside the passenger compartment.”
The sheriff’s department converted 63 vehicles to run on propane in the last two years. The hybrid vehicles save the department about $150,000 annually.
They have put the program on hold while they figure out what went wrong in Deputy Cox’s cruiser.
They have also placed a ban on smoking inside patrol vehicles.
