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CHRIS TISCHClothes had piled up during her hospital stay, so the woman went in to do laundry. A car careened into her porch, smashing a favorite perch.
CLEARWATER - A pile of dirty clothes may have saved Beauty Harvey's life Thursday afternoon.
Because of a recent hospital stay, Harvey hadn't been able to do her laundry as she usually does. So instead of sitting on her front porch as usual Thursday afternoon, she was inside washing clothes.
That's when a speeding 1981 Crown Victoria veered off the road, mowed down a street sign and mailbox, snapped a utility pole and smashed into Harvey's front porch.
The white plastic chair Harvey usually sits in was crushed under the car.
"I had just left," said Harvey, 68, who lives at 302 Pennsylvania Ave. with her daughter.
The Crown Vic was driven by Tyler Henderson, a 17-year-old Dunedin High School student who had just dropped off his friend after school. Henderson was headed home to Palm Harbor when he revved the car up to nearly 40 mph, he said.
Henderson said he likes to go that fast because that's when the car shifts from first to second gear, causing it to jerk. The speed limit on Pennsylvania Avenue, a thin ribbon of road in the North Greenwood area of Clearwater, is 20 mph.
Henderson said the engine cut out as he accelerated. When he pumped the gas, the engine started up again and the car shot forward, he said.
His car vaulted a curb, then rumbled over a couple of yards before smacking into Harvey's front porch. Henderson suffered a fat lip.
"I'm not going to be doing that anymore," Henderson said of the maneuver.
Police said they planned to charge him with reckless driving.
Harvey's family, meanwhile, said they were grateful for her laundry. Harvey likes to sit on the porch in the afternoons so she can watch neighbors return home from work.
"She normally sits right under that window," said her daughter, Rose King. "She probably would have gotten hit."
Harvey was released from the hospital Sunday after a stay for treatment of a nervous system problem. She normally cleans clothes in the mornings, but she noticed Thursday afternoon that her clothes had piled up.
She and her daughter were inside when they heard the Crown Vic coming. They looked outside and saw it barreling toward the house.
"We heard the noise and thought it was a tree falling," said King. "It scared me so bad that I ran out the back door. I went in the back yard and called 911."
Clearwater police and firefighters were on the scene in minutes. Power crews also were summoned to the scene to fix the downed utility pole.