‘High Speed Factor’ In Fatal Tampa Crash: Police

TAMPA, FL — The Tampa Police Department is investigating a Friday morning crash that left a 21-year-old woman dead and sent three others to the hospital.

According to the agency, two vehicles were heading east on Waters Avenue near El Portal Drive around 2:30 a.m. May 5. Both cars are believed to have been traveling “at a high rate of speed,” an email from police said, adding that people in the two cars are believed to have known each other.

Get the Tampa Patch newsletter and alerts in your inbox.

“The two cars collided and veered off the road in a northeast direction,” the agency wrote. A 2007 Mazda driven by Aryelle M. Oxendine, 21, struck a fence, sign posts and a billboard support before “coming to rest against” the Center of Transformation Church, 1001 W. Waters Ave., the email said.

The second vehicle, a 1999 Lexus driven by Fredreanna P. Hunt, 20, struck a utility pole.

Police say Oxendine died from injuries sustained in the crash. Her passenger, Erica Perryman, 20, suffered life-threatening injuries. Hunt and her passenger, Yalean Pimental, 17, both suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

It is unclear at this time if Oxendine and Hunt were racing. “That’s something we’re looking into, but can’t confirm at this time,” department spokesman Stephen Hegarty said.

Further information is not yet available.

Keep up with what’s happening by following Tampa Patch on Facebook.

Image via Shutterstock