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Runaway car hits fence, tree, houses

The driver and two passengers, all teenagers, were able to walk away from the wreck in a Port Richey subdivision.

By MOLLY MOORHEAD and TAMARA EL-KHOURY
Published May 7, 2006

PORT RICHEY - Wally Pember was waiting to make a turn onto Jasmine Boulevard near the Timber Oaks subdivision Sunday when he heard squealing tires and saw dirt flying.

He watched as an out-of-control car ran through a fence and hit a tree and a house before stopping partly buried inside a second home.

Rhonda M. Rumore, 18, was driving the runaway 1998 gold Toyota. She had been headed east on Jasmine when she lost control, said Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Daniel Nieman.

The car carrying Rumore and her two passengers slid off the north side of Jasmine Boulevard, ramming through the fence of 8134 Los Alamos Drive.

The car then ricocheted off an oak tree before hitting the back corner of the house, taking out a screen enclosure, Nieman said.

The car then crossed the property to the back room of the house next door, 8140 Los Alamos Drive.

The vehicle went through glass sliding doors, Nieman said, before stopping halfway in the house with part of the neighbor's wooden fence still on top of the car.

"The awnings came down and everything," Pember said.

He called 911.

Rumore and Melanie Gray, 15, the front passenger, had an acquaintance take them to North Bay Hospital, Nieman said. Paul Parker, 15, the back-seat passenger, did not seek medical treatment.

Rumore was charged with careless driving.

The owners of the damaged homes could not be reached for comment.

Pember said all three people in the car were able to walk away from the wreck.

"I was so shaken by the whole thing," Pember said. "Then to see these kids walking around, this is a miracle that these kids were unhurt."

[Last modified May 7, 2006, 22:32:02]