Suicide Attempt Prozac 22/02/1995 Florida 15 Year Old Deliberately Drives Car into House Summary:

Second paragraph from end reads:  "The boy's father told deputies his son had nearly overdosed a week ago on Prozac and aspirin."

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Teen slams car into house
The Tampa Tribune
February 22, 1995
Author: BETH McMURTRIE; Tribune Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 2
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BROOKSVILLE -- A 15-year-old boy who told friends he wanted to kill himself ran his father's Buick Skylark into a concrete-block house Monday evening and walked away with barely a scratch.

The boy, a ninth-grader at Bronson High School in Levy County, drove into an empty home on 6424 Cammie St. He was treated at HCA Oak Hill Hospital and then sent to LifeStream Behavioral Center in Leesburg for psychiatric eva0luation.

Neighbor Howard Allison said he was standing in his front yard with his son when he saw the car speeding down Simona Avenue and straight through a stop sign at the corner of Cammie Street.

"I started running when I saw he wasn't stopping," said Allison, who lives next door to the empty home.

Allison watched as the car flew through the air, smashed through a window and kept going -- into the bedroom, through a wall, through another wall and then into the bathroom. It was stopped by the back wall of the house.

The boy was lucky he hit a window, Allison said. "If he had hit any other part of the house it's a good chance he probably would have been killed."

When he reached the home, Allison said he went inside and pulled the boy out of the car. "I just asked him what happened and he just says, "I don't know.' "

The car received almost as little damage as the boy. "The hood's bent up a little," Allison said. "But the motor . . . and the wheel [are] still where [they] should be."

Allison asked the boy if the accelerator got stuck and the boy told him no. Deputies found no skid marks in front of the house and another witness said he did not see any brake lights go on as the car sped toward the house.

Allison's son Karl, 16, told deputies that the boy is a friend of his. He said that the boy told him he had stolen his father's car.

The boy's father told deputies his son had nearly overdosed a week ago on Prozac and aspirin.

Allison said the house was foreclosed and has been unoccupied for about a year. According to sheriff's office spokeswoman Deanna Dammer, the home is listed for sale by a real estate agent with the Farmers Home Administration.
Edition:  METROPOLITAN
Section:  HERNANDO
Page:  1
Index Terms: SUICIDE ATTEMPT AUTO; BUILDING HERNANDO FLA; UNUSUAL; INVESTIGATION; TEENAGER; MENTAL HEALTH
Record Number:  032

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