Search for driver after van slams into home

BRADENTON (FOX 13) - Don and Shirley Johnson have been through the good and bad during their 59-years of marriage.

Friday night was just another test.

"It was just a loud crash a bang and then everything went black," said Don Johnson.

Just after 11:00 p.m. Don was on the porch and Shirley in the bedroom.

"It was a boom and I'm half asleep and I'm thinking there was a storm and a tree fell on something," explained Shirley Johnson.

It wasn't a tree -- it was a van and it almost ran into their home.

Next door, the neighbor's place was destroyed when the van crashed into it.

The Johnson's shed and screened in porch was the van's next target.

"I just walked out here on the porch and seen the roof hanging," added Shirley.

The Florida Highway Patrol said the van went over a raised median along 63rd Avenue West in Bradenton.

As the driver overcorrected he spun into a fence. The van came finally stopped after hitting the two homes.

Neighbors called 911, but before help could arrive the driver of the van got out and took off running.

"It was parked over there where he stopped it, but I never saw the guy got out," Shirley told FOX 13.

Troopers know who the van is registered to, but aren't sure if that was the actual driver.

"He had knocked the power off the air conditioner took it clear out in the street," said Don.

Seeing the damage reminds the Johnson's how much more devastating it could have been.

"With two feet I would have been out. That bedroom would have been done," Shirley said.

They are counting their blessings that it wasn't.

"We are here today, in good shape, but we are uncomfortable," Don stated.

Anyone with information regarding the crash is asked to contact the Florida Highway Patrol at (239) 938-1800.