Car barrels through Pasco home, injuring man and boy

As Crystal Leija was leaving the Lane-Glo bowling alley on Ridge Road early Saturday, John Rauchbauer and his family were asleep in their beds a little less than a mile away.

Leija and Rauchbauer were strangers.

But they would soon meet – in Rauchbauer's backyard after investigators said she drove through his living room.

Bowling alley owner Jeff Langlo said Leija left his bar shortly before 2 a.m. after being prodded awake by a security guard and refusing several offers for a cab.

She got into her white 1998 Honda Accord and hit a parked car as she drove out of the parking lot, Florida Highway Patrol troopers said. The Honda then headed north on Sterling Lane, hitting fences and mailboxes before running a stop sign and barreling into the living room of the rental house at 6915 Twilite Drive.

"It sounded like a tornado," Rauchbauer said.

He got out of bed, not knowing what happened.

"When I hit the hallway, there was dust and debris."

Then he saw the glow of taillights and began to realize someone had driven clear through his home.

Rauchbauer heard screams coming from the back bedroom, where 10-year-old Tyler Davis and Hayden Rauchbauer, 4, were sleeping.

"The car hit Hayden's bed, spinning it around and it threw Hayden out of the house into the back yard," he said.

Hayden was slightly injured; Tyler was frightened but unscathed.

Rauchbauer's brother-in-law, Jesse Data, 26, wasn't so lucky.

"He was sleeping right there on an air mattress," Rauchbauer said, pointing to the spot on the debris-strewn floor where Data "was run over."

He said Data was taken to a local hospital, where he received 100 stitches in his head.

Rauchbauer escaped harm, as did the home's other occupants, Christina Davis, 29, Samantha Rauchbauer, 11, and Abygail Rauchbauer, 3.

Rauchbauer said Leija tried to leave as he tended to his family.

"She seemed out of it," he said. "At one point, she offered to help find the kids if I paid her $1,000."

Later, as Leija was taken to a police car, Rauchbauer said he held Abygail and said, 'You see who you could have killed?'"

Leija, he said, responded by cursing.

Leija, 32, of 11235 Meadow Drive, faces charges of driving under the influence with serious bodily injury, DUI with property damage and leaving the scene of a crash with property damage.

She was being held at the Land O' Lakes Jail with bail set at $6,150.

Troopers estimated the damage to the house at $80,000.

The Red Cross is providing temporary housing and Christo's restaurant, where Rauchbauer is a chef, is raising money to help the family relocate.

"I have to pick up the pieces and find a new home now," Rauchbauer said.

haltman@tampatrib.com

(813) 259-7629