By Danny Valentine, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
TAMPA — A Tampa man died early Wednesday after his car struck a tree, according to the Tampa Police Department.
Richard Pairay Tran, 26, was prounced dead at the scene after his Nissan wrapped around an oak near Manhattan Avenue and San Juan Street at about 3:30 a.m.
Tran was traveling south in the outside lane while speeding and tried to pass a car, police said.
Another car entered his lane and police said Tran overcorrected and hit the curb, sideswiped a palm tree and then crashed into the oak.
Brian Cobb, 48, lives one house from where the crash happened.
He heard two loud pops and then another noise.
"It sounded like a bomb going off," Cobb said, who immediately ran outside. He brought a tool that breaks windows and cuts seatbelts and ran to Tran's car.
Cobb said he went to the window and asked, "Are you okay?"
No one answered, he said. He saw no movement, he said, nothing that indicated Tran was alive. He said you couldn't even tell if someone else was in the car.
"It just folded around the tree," Cobb said of the car. "The tree was almost to the dashboard."
"There was no way we could have gotten him out of the vehicle," he said.
Tampa fire crews had to remove both doors on the driver's side before they were able to remove Cobb around 6:30 a.m.
Most of the front of the car appeared to be smashed in. Parts of the vehicle, including the battery and a headlight, were flung several feet in front of the car from the impact.
Cobb snapped a picture of the crumpled up vehicle as it lay on the bed of a tow truck.
"I want to show my God daughter what speed can do," he said.