Gas station owner was killed while trying to stop $52 gas theft

A gas station owner was run over and killed when he tried to stop a driver from leaving without paying for $52 worth of gasoline.

The driver was at large Sunday, and police Chief David Walker said the case was being investigated as a robbery-homicide.

Witnesses told police that Husain Caddi, owner of Fort Payne Texaco, "grabbed onto the vehicle" Friday when the driver began to drive off. Caddi was dragged across the parking lot and onto a highway, where he fell to the pavement and was run over by a rear wheel of the thief's sport utility vehicle, Walker said. Caddi, 54, later died at a hospital.

Police said the driver was in his 20s or 30s, AP reports.