9-year-old's skull fractured after SUV slams into home

Tampa, Florida - A nine-year-old boy was hospitalized early Sunday morning with a skull fracture after Tampa Police say a teenager slammed into the home where he was sleeping. As bad as the accident was, the homeowners say it could have been much worse.

It happened at 7910 North Orleans in Tampa around midnight. Ray Dunning owns the house and was sleeping in his bedroom with his wife when it happened. "It sounded like an explosion. We had a vehicle, a SUV, drive through our house."

Dunning says seven children, including two infants, were sleeping in the house when it happened. The children spent Saturday at the Gasparilla kid's parade and were winding down during a sleepover. Dunning says the driver slammed into a parked car in the driveway first. "It hit that vehicle, spun it into the house, kept going through the home, knocking out all the furniture. We had a nine-year-old on the sofa. It launched him about 15 feet out onto the tile."

Joseph Vanhouse was the child sleeping on the couch. He was visiting the home and was transported to St. Joseph's Hospital where he was admitted into ICU to be treated for a skull fracture.

Ray Dunning says the SUV traveled through the house, taking out the back wall. His wife, Susan, says the crash could have been even worse. "If his little sister had stayed in the chair, the oversized chair that she was sleeping in, she would have been run over instantly and dead. If my sister's car wouldn't have been in the front yard to block the hit, Joey would have been dead."

Tampa Police say it was a teenage boy who was driving the 2002 Ford Explorer that slammed into the house. Laura McElroy is a spokesperson for the police department and says the driver was speeding and ran a stop sign. "He did make some comments at the scene that would indicate that he may very well have been under the influence of a controlled substance. He's a 17-year-old boy who had two other teenage boys in the car with him. His two passengers fled from the scene. Officers had to track them down."

The Dunning's have lived at their home for nearly a decade and they've spent most of that time remodeling the house. Now, they'll have to start all over. Ray Dunning says, "I feel like this, it's just a structure, it can be rebuilt. I'm more worried about Joey."

At last check, Vanhouse is doing better. McElroy says he's talking and it looks like he will recover.

Meanwhile, there's a criminal investigation into the driver in this case. Charges are pending as investigators wait for toxicology reports to come back. His passengers are not facing any charges.