People in one community want drivers to slow down and they said a frightening crash early Wednesday morning in their FishHawk neighborhood proves their point.
Lora Johnson’s home surveillance video captured the crash.
“The next time we might not be so lucky. It might not just be a truck,” Johnson said.
Johnson was home when she heard it.
“All of a sudden we hear this big “bam” and I was like what the heck was that,” Johnson said.
She ran outside and saw a van on its side.
“The kids can’t even play in the road anymore and then this happens today,” Johnson said.
According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, it appears the woman of the minivan was driving too fast and lost control. Deputies cited her for careless driving and an expired registration. The accident frightened neighbors.
"They had to cut her out because she was upside down and jammed in and it was very scary,” Anita Martini said.
People, who live in the neighborhood, said people constantly speed.
"I haven't seen any accidents but I've seen a lot of near misses with the kids actually,” Martini said.
They want people to slow down.
"I feel sorry for the lady. I hope she is okay, but what we want is for people to please slow down before a kid gets killed,” Johnson said.
The husband of the driver reached out to ABC Action News. Joe Cozzo said they have children, who play in the streets, and safety is a big deal to them too. Cozzo added that his wife doesn't remember what happened -only waking up when the van was on its side. He also said his wife was not speeding and that they've lived in the neighborhood several years.
Over the phone Cozzo said, "I didn't like the way they were using her as an example to push their agenda through to get speed bumps. I think it was also pretty sad that they had pictures posted on Facebook of my wife trapped in the van before EMS got there".
The Sheriff’s Office said they want people to call them for speeders. They urge people to ask for a shift supervisor to report a complaint so they can investigate. They said people can request for extra traffic enforcement in their community.
