Longtime worker killed at local car wash

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) Tragedy struck at a car wash in the city's Bustleton section.

Car wash owner Amit Patel fought back tears as he spoke about Leonard Mendeloski, one of his longtime employees, killed in a bizarre accident inside the Krewsin Klean Car Wash Monday in Bustleton.

It happened around noon after a grey Dodge Durango came off the car wash conveyor line just out front of the garage. As Mendeloski was wiping down the rear window, something he's done thousands of times before, another employee got into the driver's seat to pull the SUV up. That's when tragedy struck..

"Another worker got into the Dodge Durango and thinks it's in forward and it actually reverses," said Captain John Wilczinski.

As Mendeloski was pushed back into the car wash tunnel, investigators say, he may have also been struck by an unoccupied red Honda that was coming through the wash line.

"It's just a tragic accident. We're still investigating naturally. Looking at every angle," Captain John Wilczinski.

Patel says Mendeloski started working for him right out of high school. He says he was a hardworking young man, who kept working while he also helped out his mother, who was battling cancer.

"He was taking care of his mother who had just gone through chemotherapy," said Patel.

Investigators from aid and OSHA, the occupational safety and health administration, were on scene immediately. Captain Wilczynski says while the investigation is not complete, it does not appear any charges will be filed. Patel says he and his employees are devastated by the loss.