Mistake at gas station prompts alert
BYERS, Colo. (AP) - Police were on the lookout for a tractor-trailer with expired Canadian plates after two men attempted to fill it up with unleaded gasoline, instead of diesel fuel, the Colorado State Patrol said Friday.
The report is one of many law enforcement officials have received in the past week since the federal government increased its terrorism alert to orange, or high, the second-highest level, said Sgt. Craig LaVere, a patrol spokesman.
The men, who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent, stopped at a gas station Thursday in this small town off of Interstate 70, about 30 miles east of Denver. After the clerk alerted the men to their mistake, they fueled the truck with diesel, paid with cash and headed east on U.S. 36.
''It was kind of out of place, to make that kind of mistake,'' LaVere said. ''A professional truck driver is not going to put that kind of fuel in their truck.
''Because of the heightened awareness, people are noticing things that don't seem right,'' he said.
The white truck has the words ''Real Transport'' painted on the side. Police want to question the men about the registration.