TACOMA, Wash. -- A driver who said his accelerator malfunctioned crashed into a Tacoma gas station and escaped before the vehicle and the building caught fire on Tuesday, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reported.

“I’m shaking now, but it was so fast I didn’t know what was happening,” Robinson said.

The driver, Arthur Robinson, told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Kevin McCarty that he was driving his Toyota Prius on Interstate 5 when he realized the gas pedal wasn't working. He said he tried the emergency brake, but he couldn't stop the car.

Video: Driver Slams Into Gas Station When Accelerator Sticks

“The car suddenly started to accelerate, even though my foot was completely off the gas, I put the emergency brake to the floor, I put the regular brake to the floor, the car kept moving,” Robinson said.

He said he got off the freeway, passed through an intersection and was forced to crash into the side of a Shell gas station and mini-mart at South 84th Street and South Hosmer Street to stop the vehicle.

The car erupted into flames, and part of the gas station caught fire, leaving a charred black hole in the side of the building.

Gas station workers hit an emergency switch, cutting power to the gas pumps.

No one was hurt. Customers inside the building had just left or there would have been several people injured, clerks told McCarty.