Contest winner, friend killed

The two were hit crossing I-4 during a concert storm delay.

By S. I. ROSENBAUM, Times Staff Writer
Published September 14, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Cammie Krusoe, 26, won tickets to the Dave Matthews Band concert by calling a local radio station. [Family photo]

TAMPA - Cammie Krusoe, 26, couldn't believe her luck when she won tickets to Wednesday night's Dave Matthews Band concert by calling a local radio station.

"She was screaming, 'No way! No way!'" recalled her friend Becky Lane, who was with Krusoe when she won the tickets.

Lane couldn't go to the concert - she had a class that night - so Krusoe took another friend, Megan Thompson, 28, originally of York, Pa.

But Wednesday night, the concert was delayed as a torrential thunderstorm rolled over the Ford Amphitheatre. Drenched, the two women apparently tried to cross Interstate 4 to find shelter at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino.

They didn't make it. State troopers said they were struck by a 2006 Toyota as they tried to cross the highway from south to north near U.S. 301. The impact sent the two into the path of other cars, where they were struck again.

No charges were filed in the crash, which was one of two serious accidents involving concertgoers that evening.

At Krusoe's Carrollwood home on Thursday, her friends gathered to mourn with her parents, sister and brother. In a bittersweet moment, a florist delivered flowers for her sister, Kallie, who turned 28 Thursday.

"Everyone she met was a friend," said her father, Robert Krusoe. He said his youngest daughter, who lived with her parents, had stored 275 contacts in her cell phone.

In the other serious crash, three passengers in a sport utility vehicle carrying nine people were ejected in a rollover.

The driver of the 1999 Ford, Jasmine L. Matamoros, 29, of 3410 21st St. N in St. Petersburg, was traveling west on I-4 near N 50th Street about 11:45 p.m. Wednesday when the SUV left the road and overturned on the north shoulder.

The three ejected passengers were Jennifer Y. Yabel, 26, Jonathan R. Allen, 31, and Paul E. Higgins, all of Tampa. Yabel and Higgins were taken to Tampa General Hospital. Allen was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital.

Matamoros and five others were taken to Tampa General Hospital. They are Andrew P. Laflin, 27, of Clearwater; Megan C. Centi, 22, of Tampa; Stephanie J. Jackson, 25, of Tampa; Thomas Hernandez, 28, of Tampa; and Stephen K. Wright, 29, of Tampa.

Yabel remained in critical condition Thursday afternoon while Matamoros and Wright were listed in fair condition, a Tampa General Hospital spokesman said. Allen was in fair condition, St. Joseph's spokesman Will Darnall said.

The rest were treated and released.

Staff writers Justin George, Dong-Phuong Nguyen and Arleen Spenceley contributed to this report.

[Last modified September 13, 2007, 23:24:30]