The cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline that sparked a panic-buying gas shortage across the Southeast also resulted in a nasty fight between two drivers at a North Carolina filling station this week after one car tried to cut in front of another to purchase fuel.
Knightdale police responded about 2 p.m. Tuesday to a Marathon gas station in Wake County, just east of Raleigh, where a man and woman had argued over their spots in the line.
Their cars had apparently bumped up against each other, which escalated to a physical fight with each person spitting in the other’s face, reports said.
The woman’s cellphone was also damaged during the dust-up, police said.
Both are now facing assault charges, although their names have not been publicly revealed.
Video of the altercation was posted to Instagram and shows a woman in a white Honda graze another vehicle as she tried to cut in line where others were waiting to get to the pump.
Reports said none of the drivers were willing to let the woman in, which led to her car side-swiping an SUV.
The video next shows the woman out of her car, on the phone, and standing at the window of the man in the SUV, where she appears to spit in his face. The man then emerges from his vehicle, walk calmly over to the woman and spit back in her face.
From there, the woman repeatedly swings at the man and both engage in a physical struggle that lasted only a few seconds before the two separate from each other, the video shows.
None of the blows thrown appear to have connected as the man blocked the onslaught with his arms and appeared to pull the woman’s hair downward, which prevented her from winding up again.
The man appears to kick the woman’s cellphone, which fell to the ground during the skirmish.
Both vehicles suffered only minor damage.
Knightdale Police Department officials said the woman was charged with simple assault and the man was charged with assault on a woman and damage to personal property.
Both were cited and released with a pending court date.
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