54-year-old Omayra Rivera has been living in Lebanon for more than 30 years, since before she turned 20.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI take the vacuum and put it on the floor,\u201d said Rivera. \u201cWhen I went to put the quarter in the machine, it gave me an electric shock \u2013 went from my arm straight to my stomach.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t expecting that. I jumped and the quarter fell. I was so nervous \u2013 no one was around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rivera said she was in shock. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not something I was expecting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
She said that at the time she still heard it in her ear.<\/p>\n
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, \u201cwhen I was going to put the quarter in, it shocked me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rivera said she knew what it was and it made her nervous. She said she felt that something was not normal.<\/p>\n
Rivera said the man told her he was doing something at the moment but he\u2019d send someone later to check it. She said there was no incident report or other formal documentation made by the car wash.<\/p>\n
She said that this all took place Tuesday morning around 11 a.m. Afterwards, she went to her aunt\u2019s residence nearby the car wash and sat there shaken for a few hours.<\/p>\n
Rivera said she called the man back on April 15 \u2013 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.<\/p>\n
The next day she learned city police were looking to interview her.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s when I found out, someone else had the incident there, too,\u201d said Rivera. \u201cYoung girl with two kids. How did that happen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told something \u2013 I tell something is not right. You know you need to fix it, you need to check. They ignored me. Why?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rivera was not sure how city police identified her. She was interviewed by a city detective on Friday, April 17, she said.<\/p>\n
Knowing someone else got hurt, Rivera said she went to the doctor \u2013 in part because she hasn\u2019t been sleeping well. \u201cThinking of everything, thinking something could be prevented,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why it hurts,\u201d said Rivera. \u201cBecause we should be valued, we should care about others no matter where they come from, no matter what language they speak. It is just \u2013 when you look at somebody, it\u2019s a person, it\u2019s a mother, it\u2019s a sister, it\u2019s a friend, it\u2019s a neighbor. It\u2019s someone. It hurts, it hurts just to find out that. I have two daughters, I can\u2019t imagine something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rivera said she has not been in touch with the victim\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
She said she is pretty sure they know already, acknowledging how small Lebanon is.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what to say to them,\u201d said Rivera.<\/p>\n
She added later: \u201cHe had a chance to prevent it.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/a>Vacuum was unsafe when City Fire Department inspected it<\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Police said that on April 16, investigators continued examining the circumstances surrounding the incident. \u201cDuring 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.,\u201d police said.<\/p>\n According to the police news release, the business owner\u2019s maintenance personnel \u201cresponded promptly to that complaint.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the initial responding employee was unable to replicate the reported issue, a second maintenance personnel member was called to further assess the unit,\u201d said city police in the release. \u201cThat 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.\u201d<\/p>\n 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 \u201cfully de-energized, disabled, and no longer posed any risk to the public.\u201d <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n <\/a>Police: Investigation continues, owner cooperating<\/p>\n Car wash owner Kyle Wenger said that Carriage House Car Wash remains fully committed to providing a high level of customer service\u00a0and responsiveness to the community.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will continue to cooperate with the Lebanon City Police Department as needed,\u201d said Wenger. \u201cOur 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt this time, we have no additional information to provide beyond what the Lebanon City Police Department has already shared.\u201d<\/p>\n City police said in a statement that the company \u201chas been and continues to cooperate with the Lebanon City Police Department\u2019s investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n Police said that while the investigation remains ongoing, preliminary findings do not support a conclusion of criminal intent or gross negligence at this time.<\/p>\n \u201cUpon receipt of the official findings and conclusion of the investigation, the department will consult with the Lebanon County District Attorney\u2019s Office to determine the appropriate course of action,\u201d said city police in the statement. \u201cA final update will be provided to the public following that review.\u201d<\/p>\n City police emphasized that they remain committed to conducting a thorough, fact-based investigation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe ask the public and members of the media to avoid drawing conclusions based on incomplete or unverified information,\u201d said police in the news release.<\/p>\n Questions about this story? Suggestions for a future LebTown article? Reach our newsroom using this contact form and we\u2019ll do our best to get back to you.<\/p>\n Join our community of local news champions.<\/p>\n Cancel anytime.<\/p>\n Still no paywall!<\/p>\n Fewer ads<\/p>\n Exclusive events and emails<\/p>\n All monthly benefits <\/p>\n Most popular option<\/p>\n Make a bigger impact<\/p>\n Join the 1,000+ readers who support our work as members<\/p>\n Already a member? Log in here to hide these messages<\/a><\/p>\n While other local news outlets are shrinking, LebTown is growing. Help us continue expanding our coverage of Lebanon County with a monthly<\/a> or annual<\/a> membership, or support our work with a one-time contribution<\/a>. Every dollar goes directly toward local reporting. Cancel anytime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In response to LebTown questions sent Monday, Lebanon City Police shared information Tuesday about a prior electrical concern…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[3108,93,2615],"class_list":{"0":"post-88051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lebanon","8":"tag-featured","9":"tag-lebanon","10":"tag-shareimmediately"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116483838748215500","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775041495_241_samler-cover-block.jpg\")
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