Weeki Wachee man hurt in Thonotasassa crash

A Weeki Wachee man suffered minor injuries Tuesday morning after he was involved in a four-vehicle accident that snarled traffic along U.S. 301 for several hours and caused damage to a mobile home.

Shortly after 6:30 a.m., James Eugene Purcell, 62, was driving his 1995 semitrailer southbound along the highway near Ohio Avenue when it crashed into a 2011 Toyota RAV4 that had failed to yield, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

The semitrailer struck the right rear passenger door of the Toyota, which pushed it off the east side of the road before it crashed into a parked car and a mobile home, troopers said.

The driver of the Toyota, Wendy Sue Anderson, 41, of Thonotosassa, also sustained minor injuries from the accident. Both she and Purcell were taken to Florida Hospital, according to an FHP accident report.

A third vehicle, a 1991 Chevrolet Blazer driven by 40-year-old Michael Dean Hooks, was traveling northbound along U.S. 301 when the first collision took place, troopers said.

Hooks' vehicle was struck by some of the debris from the initial crash. Hooks, who lives in St. Petersburg, was transported to Tampa General Hospital for minor injuries, according to FHP.

The fourth vehicle, a 2001 Pontiac Grand Am, was legally parked along the side of the road near the Ohio intersection and unoccupied. It was struck by the Toyota and rotated clockwise off the road, troopers said.

The Toyota eventually skidded along a front porch and rammed into a mobile home, according to the report.

No one inside the home was injured, but the structure sustained about $5,000 in damage, troopers said.