A man and a woman in the late stages of pregnancy were killed as they slept early Wednesday when an SUV crashed into their Palmetto mobile home.
The crash happened at 2:30 a.m. at the Lone Oak Park mobile home park, 115 10th Street West. The unborn child also did not survive.
According to Palmetto police, the couple were identified as 21-year-old Ivan Carlos Tapia and 18-year-old Brenda Avilez.
Police said the Chevrolet SUV was headed north on U.S. 41 at 7th Street West when it crossed the median and the southbound lanes and crashed through a fence along the east side of the mobile home park.
The SUV then struck the back of the home at Lot 108. Tapia and Avilez were killed by the impact, authorities said.
"It woke everybody up," said Tapia's brother, Christian Carlos, who also was in the mobile home at the time of the crash."I ran outside. I asked for him, I couldn't find him. I seen him laying down on the ground. I pulled him out, him and his girlfriend. They were dead already."
Family members say a baby shower was planned for the following week. Tapia was working two jobs to save money for an apartment, and the couple had decided on a name for the baby.
"[Tapia] told me her name was gonna be Devra," cousin Arcadio Santos said. "I was like, 'That's unusual,' but he said it was something written in the Bible."
A tree stopped the SUV from crashing into the bedroom of the mobile home next door, where Louis Urbina's 14-year-old son was sleeping.
"I had someone come and give me an estimate on removing that tree, but I didn't have enough money," Urbina said. "Now I can say it is a miracle. Thank God for that tree."
The driver of the SUV, 35 year-old Christian Crawford of Bradenton, was transported to Manatee Memorial Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Investigators are waiting on toxicology blood tests from Crawford. Police say he did not show obvious signs of impairment.
The crash remains under investigation.