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Residents displaced after apartments burn

By Times Staff
Published May 9, 2005

TAMPA - Almost 30 residents at a West Tampa apartment complex were forced out of their apartments by a fire that broke out before 2 a.m. Sunday, Tampa Fire Rescue said.

No one was injured at the Eden Apartments at 3710 W Cass St. Damage was estimated at almost $1-million, fire officials said. The blaze appeared to have begun in an upstairs building storage area, officials said Sunday. The American Red Cross is helping the displaced residents.

TAMPA - A 43-year-old woman hit by an SUV Friday at a carwash died early Sunday, Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies said.

Brenda Lee Brown of 11617 Renaissance View Court took her Nissan Pathfinder Armada to Town 'N Country Carwash on Friday. As it came off the line, she waited under a gazebo with her 6-month-old son. After attendants finished drying her car, she pushed her son's stroller toward it. As she tried to claim it, an attendant drove a 2003 Isuzu Rodeo off the carwash's conveyor belt and struck Brown, deputies said. She was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital, where she died at 3:08 a.m. Sunday, deputies said. The baby was not harmed.

No charges have been filed against Densil Blake, 50, the carwash employee at the wheel of the Rodeo when it hit Brown.

CLEARWATER - A Clearwater man died Sunday afternoon after his motorcycle hit a van near the city center, Clearwater Police said.

Police said David Zepeda, 25, of 1808 Lawrence Court was riding a 2005 Honda motorcycle west on Cleveland Street about 1 p.m. Sunday when he crashed into the rear of a 1985 Dodge Caravan as the van's driver, Ruth Keyes, 58, of 113 N Fredrica Ave., was driving south on Fredrica across the intersection. Zepeda was thrown from his motorcycle. He died at the scene, police said.

DADE CITY - A Zephyrhills man was shot several times in the chest and leg while playing basketball in a park at dusk Sunday, police said.

Dade City police Chief Phil Thompson said the 30-year-old was at Pyracantha Park on Martin Luther King Boulevard about 7:45 p.m. when a car pulled up. The driver got out, shot the man with a handgun and drove off. Witnesses told police the victim's wife was nearby.

Thompson did not release the man's name but said he was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa. His condition was not known. Thompson said the man was conscious at the scene. The car, a dark green or dark blue Saturn sedan, was last seen driving west on Martin Luther King, toward U.S. 98. The suspect was alone. Anyone with information is asked to call Dade City police at (352) 521-1495.

SAN ANTONIO - A sport utility vehicle carrying two adults and five children blew a tire on Interstate 75 Sunday afternoon and flipped, ejecting three people, Florida Highway Patrol said.

The red 1992 Chevrolet SUV was heading south near St. Joe Road about 1:15 p.m. when its right, rear tire blew, the patrol said. The vehicle veered into the median, then went back onto the roadway and rolled. It landed on its roof.

The injured were taken to two Tampa hospitals; one was taken to Pasco Regional Medical Center in Dade City. Their conditions were unavailable late Sunday. In the SUV were Ocala residents John Dasilva, 27; Erica Rivera, 27; Terell Rivera, 11; Jasmine Rivera, 6; Alexia Dasilva, 6; Makayla Dasilva, 5; and Amaya Rivera, 1.

Traffic on I-75 was delayed for hours in both directions.

[Last modified May 9, 2005, 06:18:01]