An employee at the Franklin Park Car Wash on Route 27 lost part of a finger July 26 while cleaning a car, police said.

Police said the 38-year-old employee, who was not identified, was cleaning the left front wheel rim on a 2005 Hyundai XG3 when his left middle finger got caught in the rim.

Township officer Greg Wilson said the man’s finger was severed just above the first joint. Wilson reported that he wrapped the finger in a sterile bandage.

The severed part apparently fell into a water reclamation area underneath the guiding track and could not be retrieved, Wilson reported.

The man was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick by the Kendall Park First Aid & Rescue Squad, Wilson said.