When a photo session at Cloud 9 Studios in Wesley Chapel scheduled for 1 p.m. on April 25 was cancelled, owner Jeanine McLeod took her one-year-old son, James, and went out to grab lunch.
The office manager, Mary Gullett, stayed in the studio while assistant Carla Holness photographed her own three children āages almost 1, 4, and 5 ā in the back.
Thatās when, all of a sudden, a car came crashing through the front doors of Cloud 9ās building in the Summergate Professional Center behind Samās Club off S.R. 56.
āI heard tires screeching and felt the building rattle,ā Carla says.
According to a report by the Florida Highway Patrol, 80-year-old Theresa Drummond was attempting to park her car when she pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake.
That sent her 2005 while Ford Taurus over the curb, in between two pillars and halfway through the door into the building at 27340 Cashford Circle.
āWhatās crazy is that Jeanine is always there with James and Iām not usually there with my kids,ā says Carla. āAbout half an hour before it happened, the kids were all running around playing, so Iām just so thankful that they were out to lunch and that my kids were in the back.ā
Jeanine echoed Carlaās grateful attitude.
āAll of us are a little shook up, but Iām just so thankful everyone is okay,āā Jeanine said. ā My son loves to play at the windows with the curtains, and heās always up there looking as the cars go by.ā
Both ladies are amazed that the car fit exactly through the columns on either side of the front door. āThe car had to be lined up perfectly,ā says Jeanine. āAny farther to the left or right and she would have hit steel columns.ā
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Drummond was not transported to a medical facility. The studio was temporarily boarded up until new doors could be installed.
No comment yet, add your voice below!