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Car Vs Duplex Leaves Family Of 10 Homeless

Indira Levine

Early Sunday morning, a Mazda 626 slammed into Tommy Hill's living room.

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By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 21, 2007

TAMPA - Cherene Clarke and her fiancé, Tommy Hill Jr., had just finished watching "Species: The Awakening," and had begun to slumber just before 7 a.m. Sunday in the living room of her East Tampa apartment. Then, the walls literally came crashing in.

"We were sleeping," she said, "and cinder blocks began falling on us."
The couple awoke to find a car's grill jutting a few feet from where they slept.
"There was a car in our living room," she said. The driver clamored over the seat and climbed out through the back seat before running off, she said.

Clarke is the 31-year-old mother of eight children all of whom live with her and were unhurt. Hill, 25, suffered a head injury when a block fell on him, she said. He was not transported to a hospital, but he may go to the emergency room later, she said.

The car was pulled out and impounded, leaving the duplex unlivable, she said. Now she's trying to find lodging for her huge family. The American Red Cross gave her a voucher for one night at a hotel, "with adjoining rooms," she said, but beyond that, her living situation remains an unknown.

The kids, who range in age from 13 years to six months, were shuttled off to a grandparents' home to stay for a while, while Clarke and Hill sat with their belongings inside the ruptured duplex at 4505 E. Frierson Ave., making sure no one walked off with their stuff.

She's hoping to get a key to the adjoining duplex so she can at least get her things in a storage area that she can lock up. The landlord told her he would not rent her the adjoining apartment because the wreck may have compromised the structural integrity of the entire building.
While the family is in dire straits, she still considers herself lucky.

One of her children, the 6-year-old, had gotten up just prior to the crash and walked into the living room, wanting to nestle in with Hill and Clarke, she said. She told him to go back to bed in a rear bedroom, which he did. Moments later, the car crashed into the wall.

Authorities continued their search for the driver of the car. Clarke said Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies told her the driver was on probation and left his probation documentation in the car.

Deputies told her he had been stopped on Hillsborough Avenue just before the wreck and took off as the deputy got out of his car. The deputy did not pursue, but the man still lost control at Clarke's apartment, she said.

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or at kmorelli@tampatrib.com.

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