Carwash employee thrown from spinning car

[Whale of a Wash]

Got this in an email

BOYNTON BEACH, FL — A carwash employee here is recovering from injuries after being tossed from a customer’s car, the Sun Sentinel reported.
The July 28 story said the accident occurred at the Main Street Car Wash at around 4 p.m. last Wednesday. Lenom Berreth, 68, got into a Dodge Charger as it was exiting the carwash to drive it to the drying area.
When he pressed the gas, the car spun 360 degrees and went through the hedges onto East Boynton Beach Boulevard. Then, the vehicle spun another 360 degrees and threw Berreth from the car into the street.
The story said the car kept spinning until a passing driver jumped into the driver’s seat and hit the brakes.
Berreth was taken to the Delray Medical Center, and he is expected to survive.

 

[jfmoran]

A lot of info missing from this story. My guess is this was a Hemi-Charger that's putting out 350+ horsepower. Combine that with wet tires, wet ground and probably a mat stuck under the accelerator and there's your "spinning" car. Could have been a lot worse.

 

[Whale of a Wash]

I am sure those are the conditions under which it happened. But it was a 68 yr old guy, a 19 yr old will have a much heavier foot, and problems. and more problems for the owner.

 

[mac]

I remember many, many years ago going to a gas station with an old service bay converted to a car wash. It was a drive in and back out situation. As I stood there waiting for the elderly driver to exit there was a tremendous spinning of wheels and the car flew out going in reverse, across the street and into some bushes before it stopped. How no one or anything was hit is atill amazing.

 

[rph9168]

Had a similar incident several years ago when a lady in her 70"s claimed her foot slipped off the brake when she was leaving the wash. Her car shot across a busy street without hitting any cars but ended up in a parking lot after careening off several cars. No one was injured but a lot of damage to her car and some of those she hit.