Rockdale County

Family trapped after car wash mop smashes through windshield

ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. — Members of a local family say they are lucky to be alive after a car-wash part fell on their vehicle and nearly crushed them.

The Mitchell family says they were at a car wash in Conyers over the weekend when a massive part came loose and smashed their car with them in it.

Arthur and Natasha Mitchell said they went to Conyers Carwash on north Highway 138, when two giant rolling mops came loose, pinning the doors and crushing their car.

"My husband is hitting the horn, I’m trying to figure out how I am going to get out of the car," Natasha Mitchell said.

They said they feared for their lives during the entrapment.

"My head is going to get cut off because this thing is coming at my face, glass is hitting me, and I’m like ‘I’m going to die,’" Mitchell said. “The thing that hurt the most, the owner never apologized at all.”

In a cellphone video the family shared with Channel 2's Dave Huddleston, four men can be seen trying but unable to lift the massive part off their car.

After four hours, the car-wash part had to be cut in order to free the car.

One of the owners of the car wash is Steven Lee, who told Huddleston it was the first time this has happened.

Lee said it was just an accident. He said he apologized to the Mitchells and that he has rented them a car while the insurance company figures out what to do.

The family said what shocked them even more was less than 24 hours after their car was crushed, Conyers Car Wash was open back in business.

"He was more concerned with getting his establishment back open to make money," Arthur Mitchell said.