Police ID Tampa woman as 3rd victim in fatal wreck

Police this afternoon identified the third victim of a Thursday night wreck in East Tampa that also killed a husband and wife.

Helen Cummings, 58, of 4107 Great Oak Court, was a passenger in a 1995 Buick driven by Walter Charles Givens, police said.

Givens, 67, and Dione B. Givens, 55, also died in the crash just blocks from their East Chelsea Street home.

The three victims were friends, police said.

The three people in the other vehicle, a 2008 Dodge Charger, were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. They were identified as: driver Ernest Smith, 20, of 3201 E. 22nd Ave; and passengers Patrick Cover, 30, of 3507 N. Clay St., and DeAndre Bugg, 22, of 3202 E. 24th Ave.

Walter Givens was a church elder and loved God, said his daughter Cecelia Givens-Degree. She described her father's wife as a "wonderful lady."

"They loved each other and they were just good people," Givens-Degree said.

Dione Givens was a good cook who loved reading the Bible, praying and playing bingo, her sister-in-law said.

"She's a very nice person - just as sweet as she could be," Evelyn Dean said.

Walter Givens had just picked up his wife and Cummings from their jobs at a nearby nursing home and was heading east on East Chelsea about 8:40 p.m., police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said.

The Charger was southbound on North 34th Street.

There are stop signs at the intersection for drivers on Chelsea; there are no stop signs on 34th.

Police said it could take weeks to determine the cause of the crash.

Residents complained after the wreck that a building at the intersection obstructs motorists' views. But police said this morning that the building played no role; it is on the opposite side of the road from where the crash occurred.

There have been 10 other wrecks at the intersection since January 2008. Only one - Feb. 14 - resulted in injuries, and those were minor, police said.

Jean Dorzback, the city's transportation manager, said she doesn't consider 11 crashes excessive during that timeframe.

Since 2004, the city has received three complaints about speeding at the intersection, she said. Follow-up studies didn't justify the need for changes.

The department will examine the intersection in more detail "and possibly may refresh some signs or remove some vegetation if that's necessary," Dorzback said. "But at this point in time we're not seeing anything significant that would need to be changed in terms of the road or the road design."

In February 2009, Smith was ticketed for doing 70 mph in a 45 mph zone, court records show. A month later he was ticketed for doing 50 mph in a 35 mph zone.

Smith attended driving school on the first ticket and paid a fine on the second; adjudication was withheld in both cases.

Walter Givens was ticketed in March 2006 for failing to stop at a steady red light, records show. He attended driving school and adjudication was withheld.