In response to LebTown questions sent Monday, Lebanon City Police shared information Tuesday about a prior electrical concern at Carriage House Car Wash that occurred the day before Gladys Lopez Echevarria collapsed there after making contact with a vacuum.
The incident involving Lopez Echevarria took place around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 15.
Lopez Echevarria was pronounced dead on Thursday morning, April 16, at WellSpan York Hospital, according to a news release from the York County Coroner’s office, which said she was transferred there after being first transported to WellSpan Good Samaritan Hospital.
Lopez Echevarria was 26. Results of an autopsy performed Saturday, April 18, are pending.
Local woman says vacuum at Carriage House Car Was shocked her on Tuesday, April 14
54-year-old Omayra Rivera has been living in Lebanon for more than 30 years, since before she turned 20.
She told LebTown this week that she had been to Carriage House Car Wash to vacuum her car on prior occasions before she experienced an incident Tuesday, April 14, that left her with trouble sleeping, and unable to even drive by the facility at 123 Bowman St.
Rivera said she was off work that day and her family was doing errands. With the winter cold gone, she took the opportunity to go wash her car. She stopped at nearby First National Bank for quarters before heading over to the car wash.
“I take the vacuum and put it on the floor,” said Rivera. “When I went to put the quarter in the machine, it gave me an electric shock – went from my arm straight to my stomach.
“I wasn’t expecting that. I jumped and the quarter fell. I was so nervous – no one was around.”
Rivera said she was in shock.
“This is not something I was expecting,” she said.
Rivera said she waited a few minutes and then stood up and called the number of Carriage House Car Wash and spoke with an answering service. Rivera said she told the story to the answering service and provided her contact information.
She was still sitting in her car a few minutes later when she was called by someone with the car wash. She told the story again.
Rivera said the car wash representative asked if she was sure it was an electric shock or if it was a static shock. She said she told him it was electric.
She said that at the time she still heard it in her ear.
Rivera said the car wash representative said something to the effect that he had never heard of something like that. Rivera told him again that, “when I was going to put the quarter in, it shocked me.”
Rivera said she knew what it was and it made her nervous. She said she felt that something was not normal.
Rivera said the man told her he was doing something at the moment but he’d send someone later to check it. She said there was no incident report or other formal documentation made by the car wash.
She said that this all took place Tuesday morning around 11 a.m. Afterwards, she went to her aunt’s residence nearby the car wash and sat there shaken for a few hours.
Rivera said she called the man back on April 15 – first around 3 p.m., then again shortly before 6 p.m. when she reached him. Rivera said she was told that he checked the machine and nothing is wrong, and if she knew something else to let him know.
The next day she learned city police were looking to interview her.
“And that’s when I found out, someone else had the incident there, too,” said Rivera. “Young girl with two kids. How did that happen?”
“I told something – I tell something is not right. You know you need to fix it, you need to check. They ignored me. Why?”
Rivera was not sure how city police identified her. She was interviewed by a city detective on Friday, April 17, she said.
Knowing someone else got hurt, Rivera said she went to the doctor – in part because she hasn’t been sleeping well. “Thinking of everything, thinking something could be prevented,” she said.
The encounter left her feeling abandoned and ignored, she said. Thinking it could have been her, or it could have been her children. She wonders if someone else had made the report, maybe things would have turned out differently.
“That’s why it hurts,” said Rivera. “Because we should be valued, we should care about others no matter where they come from, no matter what language they speak. It is just – when you look at somebody, it’s a person, it’s a mother, it’s a sister, it’s a friend, it’s a neighbor. It’s someone. It hurts, it hurts just to find out that. I have two daughters, I can’t imagine something like that.”
Rivera said she has not been in touch with the victim’s family.
She said she is pretty sure they know already, acknowledging how small Lebanon is.
“I don’t know what to say to them,” said Rivera.
She added later: “He had a chance to prevent it.”
Vacuum was unsafe when City Fire Department inspected it
In a news release Tuesday, Lebanon City Police said that as part of the investigation into the incident with Lopez Echevarria, the Lebanon City Fire Department was requested to evaluate an on-site vacuum unit located where the incident occurred.
The fire department assessment showed the unit to be unsafe and as a result power to the unit was immediately disconnected, police said in the news release.
Police said that on April 16, investigators continued examining the circumstances surrounding the incident. “During this process, it was determined that a customer had reported an electrical concern involving a different vacuum unit in the same island on April 14, 2026, at approximately 11:37 a.m.,” police said.
According to the police news release, the business owner’s maintenance personnel “responded promptly to that complaint.”
“While the initial responding employee was unable to replicate the reported issue, a second maintenance personnel member was called to further assess the unit,” said city police in the release. “That technician identified a fault, performed a repair, and restored the unit to operation. Following the repair, the technician was unable to reproduce the originally reported issue.”
Police said that prior to clearing the scene and returning it to the property owner on April 16, officers confirmed that the specific vacuum unit and island connected with the incident had been “fully de-energized, disabled, and no longer posed any risk to the public.”
Additionally, police said that as a precautionary measure, the Department of Public Safety instructed all vacuum units be taken out of service until all units are properly assessed.
Police: Investigation continues, owner cooperating
Car wash owner Kyle Wenger said that Carriage House Car Wash remains fully committed to providing a high level of customer service and responsiveness to the community.
“We will continue to cooperate with the Lebanon City Police Department as needed,” said Wenger. “Our facility was allowed to reopen on April 16th, and we are dedicated to ensuring a safe, secure, and welcoming environment for all our customers and team.”
“At this time, we have no additional information to provide beyond what the Lebanon City Police Department has already shared.”
City police said in a statement that the company “has been and continues to cooperate with the Lebanon City Police Department’s investigation.”
Police said that while the investigation remains ongoing, preliminary findings do not support a conclusion of criminal intent or gross negligence at this time.
“Upon receipt of the official findings and conclusion of the investigation, the department will consult with the Lebanon County District Attorney’s Office to determine the appropriate course of action,” said city police in the statement. “A final update will be provided to the public following that review.”
City police emphasized that they remain committed to conducting a thorough, fact-based investigation.
“We ask the public and members of the media to avoid drawing conclusions based on incomplete or unverified information,” said police in the news release.
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