Tattoo Artist Dies in Car Wreck

 Early Tuesday morning, Athens tattoo artist Mitchell Atkinson, 39, was killed in a one-car accident on Broad Street. Injured in the accident was passenger Quenlord Burton, 31, of Parkview Homes.

According to reports from the , Mitchell was heading west on Broad Street in a 1973 Ford Maverick around 3:15 a.m. when he lost control of the car in front of Broad Acres Homes.

When the Ford struck a concrete staircase, Atkinson and Burton were both thrown out of the car and it flipped over, eventually resting on top of Atkinson.

He died a little while later at . Burton was admitted to the hospital with injuries that weren’t life-threatening.

Neither was wearing a seat belt, police said.

Mitchell Atkinson came to Athens in 1993 from Indiana with his twin brother, Watson. Watson, who studied painting at Indiana University, said Mitchell had the idea to do tattoos. The two opened Pain & Wonder Tattoo Studio on Washington Street near the 40 Watt Club. The brothers broke up in the mid-1990s. Mitchell was the owner of on West Broad. Watson owned Blndsgh Tattoo in Atlanta.