Man found dead in car wash
By The Canadian Press
Published: July 06, 2008 7:25 PM
Updated: July 22, 2008 9:19 AM
CALGARY — A man in Calgary has been found dead in a car wash after he was hit by a woman who was pulling in to get her car cleaned.
Police say the man was lying down inside the bay at the self-serve car wash on Sunday morning and that they suspect he was very close to the overhead door.
The woman may not have been able to see the man over the hood of her car when the door opened, police said.
Insp. Frank Reuser said investigators have not yet ruled out that the man was “a homeless guy looking for a place to sleep.”
The woman was driving at low speed and noticed there was a problem when some resistance stopped her car from proceeding further.
She got out of her car and then spotted the man.
EMS Supt. Stuart Brideaux said the man did not have a pulse when medics arrived and was pronounced dead at the scene.
“What has yet to be determined by the medical examiner’s office is if he was deceased prior to being struck,” Brideaux said.
Reuser said police are working with the medical examiner’s office to try to identify the man.
Mansell Lewis, the manager of the car wash, said the business had only been open for an hour when the incident occurred.
“We are in the dark as to how it happened.” Brideaux said, adding that he did not speak to the driver, but saw she was visibly upset after the incident.
“It would certainly come as a shock for anyone for these circumstances to occur when you’re simply out to wash your vehicle.”
In late December, a woman in Edmonton was seriously injured at a car wash when she became pinned between her vehicle and a column while trying to use a magnetic card reader.
Authorities believed that she dropped her card and that the car reversed when she bent down to pick it up.
At the time, Vito Casentino, president of the Canadian Carwash Association, noted that accidents are very rare, especially at self-serve car washes.
