A Wednesday morning argument at a busy Broad Street car wash escalated so fast and so far that by the end of it, a man was in the hospital, a car was a smoldering wreck, and Philadelphia investigators were left piecing together what exactly set the whole thing off.
The incident happened around 9:30 a.m. on April 8 at a car wash on Broad Street in North Philadelphia. What started as what witnesses described as a dispute between two people who knew each other ended with a vehicle running over a man and then crashing into a wall before catching fire. The whole chaotic sequence was captured on surveillance cameras and obtained by NBC10, and the footage is about as wild as it sounds.
The man was hospitalized following the incident but was later released, and by all accounts had recovered enough to return to work shortly after. Meanwhile, the woman involved fled the scene on foot as her car went up in flames behind her. Philadelphia Police have identified her but have not yet made an arrest or publicly named her as of this writing.
From Coffee Cup to Hammer: How It All Fell Apart
According to surveillance footage reviewed by NBC10, the confrontation did not start with something dramatic. A man and a woman were seen talking briefly before she slapped a coffee cup out of the man’s hand. From there, things moved quickly. He swung back, the two ended up wrestling and eventually fell to the ground. Coworkers rushed over to intervene and tried to separate them.
Then came the hammer.
A short time after the initial scuffle, the woman got back into her car, drove up, and used a hammer to strike the man’s vehicle. He managed to get the hammer away from her at some point and swung it at her car in return. The back-and-forth did not stay on foot for long, though. The video ends with the woman reversing her car and driving directly over the man, who was still holding the hammer, before the vehicle crashed into a wall. A coworker quickly pulled the man to safety while another person attempted to keep the woman from leaving. She took off running as her car caught fire.
“She Had a Hammer in Her Hand”: The Car Wash Manager Weighs In
Bou Bou Gory, the manager of the car wash, spoke with NBC10 following the incident and offered some context on the situation. According to Gory, the two people involved were in some kind of relationship with one another, which unfortunately tracks with how quickly a conversation turned into a physical altercation that involved a vehicle as a weapon.
“She started arguing with him, hit him in the face,” Gory told NBC10. “She had a hammer in her hand.” NBC10 reporters who arrived at the scene after the incident described investigators walking the perimeter of what remained of the woman’s burned-out car. The image of detectives circling a charred vehicle in a car wash parking lot on a Wednesday morning is, to put it lightly, not how most businesses expect their week to go.
What Investigators Know, and What They Are Still Looking For
Philadelphia Police have confirmed they know who the woman is but have not yet announced an arrest. The cause of the original argument has not been officially disclosed, though investigators are actively working the case. The man who was run over received hospital treatment and has since been released.
If you have information about this incident or know the whereabouts of the suspect, the Philadelphia Police Department is asking the public to come forward. This is still an active investigation.
Car wash security cameras have seen a lot of things over the years, but it is safe to say most managers are not expecting a domestic dispute, a hammer fight, a hit-and-run, and a car fire all before 10 in the morning on a Tuesday. North Philly’s Broad Street location has certainly earned its place in the local news cycle this week.