Crash sends cars plowing into Tampa home

TAMPA (FOX 13) - It was a wake-up call born out of a nightmare.

A chain-reaction collision sent two cars plowing into a Tampa home Wednesday morning, damaging the building so badly that the residents will have to find another place to stay.

"I walk out of my bedroom and see the wall caved in. Dust everywhere. My dogs barking," said Maria Lloyd who rents the Sulphur Springs home on the corner of Bird Street and Ogontz Avenue.

She woke up Wednesday morning to find two cars inside her home. Her first thought was to check on her children.

"I could have easily lost my kids," said Lloyd. "There's cinder blocks on their pillows where they would sleep."

Fortunately, her kids, ages four and one, are staying with their father.

"If they would have been in there, those bricks would have hit them, they would have easily passed away, just that quick," described Lloyd.

According to Tampa police, just before 6:00 Wednesday morning, the driver, Markel Bloomfield failed to make a turn. Instead, officers believe he drove into the home at a high rate of speed. They say he also hit a neighbor's car which thrust it into the children's bedroom.

"They definitely need to slow down," said Lloyd. "The speed limit is 25. There's no reason they should be going 50-60 miles down the road, especially a road that dead ends into people's houses."

There have been other close calls on this property. Lloyd moved into the home back in February. A week later, she says a drunk driver plowed into her yard.

"We had somebody come run the stop sign, come through our front yard and he ended up being drunk," she said.

Lloyd's next door neighbor, Frank Garcia has seen incidents like this over and over again.

"I've lived here two and a half years and this is about the sixth accident that's happened here," Garcia said.

He says it's time for a change and that speeding is a big problem in the neighborhood.

"I think it is a big factor on the road and area maintenance crews that need to come out and probably, you know, put in some more speed bumps or a couple of more signs or something to try to make it safer," said Garcia. "It does have a lot to do with this road not having lights."