TAMPA, Fla. — A Tampa man was arrested on Wednesday morning in a street racing incident that left an uninvolved person injured, police say.
According to Tampa Police, just before 11:00 a.m., witnesses saw a blue 2012 Dodge Challenger, driven by 23-year-old Michael Heiman, street racing southbound on N. Florida Ave with a white Dodge Challenger driven by an unknown driver.
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Police say that both vehicles were exceeding the posted speed limit.
Witnesses allegedly saw Heiman rapidly switch from the inside to the outside lane to avoid stopped traffic. Heiman did not see stopped traffic in the outside lane and over-corrected his Challenger. This action caused his vehicle to spin out of control and into northbound Florida Avenue traffic, police say.
Heiman's vehicle struck a 2005 black Buick driven by Shawntae Allen.
Both drivers were immediately transported to Florida Hospital on Fletcher Avenue with severe but non-life threatening injuries.
"He skipped all those lanes and came and hit me head-on," said Allen.
Allen spoke to ABC Action News after returning home from the hospital Wednesday afternoon. She was only one mile away from making it to work when the Challenger swerved in front of her.
"There's innocent people on the road," said Allen. "I'm an innocent person and now look at me, because a decision that you guys made."
Allen, a mother of two, believes the experience serves as a lesson for her 14-year-old daughter.
"I can replace a car but I can't replace you," said Allen. "You can't control other people driving, but you can control how you drive on the road."
Heiman was charged with Racing on Public Streets, Driving on a Suspended License, Aggravated Careless Driving, as well as multiple civil citations.
Witnesses were able to get a possible tag of the second vehicle involved in the street racing and detectives are following up on that aspect of the investigation.
