A 20-year-old Corvette driver is facing a reckless driving charge after troopers say he was performing donuts in a Longwood intersection, triggering a crash that sent another vehicle careening into a nearby home. Florida Highway Patrol says the stunt-driving maneuver spun out of control and set off a chain reaction that ended with property damage to both a car and a house.
Donuts in an Intersection Turn Into a Chain-Reaction Crash
According to FOX 35 Orlando, Florida Highway Patrol said the driver was performing donuts in the Longwood intersection when he lost control and struck another vehicle. The impact was severe enough to push that second car off the road and into a nearby home, according to the same report. Authorities charged the 20-year-old driver with reckless driving and brought no additional stunt-driving charge.
Florida law treats this kind of outcome seriously. Under Florida Statute § 316.192(3)(c)1, reckless driving that damages another person's vehicle or property gets bumped up from a second-degree misdemeanor to a first-degree misdemeanor, according to the Florida Legislature. A conviction on that charge can carry up to a year in county jail, 12 months of probation, and a $1,000 fine.
Stunt Driving Carries Its Own Set of Penalties
Beyond the reckless driving charge already filed, the maneuver itself — donuts performed in a public intersection — falls squarely under Florida's stunt driving statute. Florida Statute § 316.191 explicitly defines stunt driving to include burnouts, donuts, drifting, and wheelies on any public roadway or parking lot, per the Florida Senate. A first-offense conviction is a first-degree misdemeanor carrying up to a year in jail, fines up to $2,000, a mandatory one-year license revocation, and a mandatory 30-day vehicle impoundment.
The statute allows a 30-business-day impoundment of vehicles involved in a street-racing arrest, as Hoodline reported in its coverage of a recent I-75 drag race case near Tampa. Authorities charged the Longwood driver with reckless driving and brought no additional stunt-driving charge.
Florida Lawmakers Have Repeatedly Toughened Penalties
State lawmakers have moved aggressively in recent years to crack down on street takeovers and stunt driving. In July 2024, Senate Bill 1764 took effect statewide, upgrading a second stunt-driving or street-racing violation committed within a single year from a misdemeanor to a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in state prison, fines up to $4,000, and a two-year license suspension, according to NBC 6 South Florida.
The problem is far from isolated to Longwood. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has documented 6,641 citations issued statewide for street racing, stunt driving, or spectating between 2018 and 2022, with agency demographic tracking identifying young adults aged 16 to 29 as the primary age group involved in these events — a bracket that includes the 20-year-old Corvette driver in this case. In December 2024, the agency partnered with the Orange County Sheriff's Office and Orlando Police Department for a joint detail targeting street takeovers, issuing 154 citations and impounding multiple vehicles in neighboring Orange County.
A Familiar Pattern of High-Performance Cars Hitting Homes
The Longwood crash involved a high-performance sports car and a Florida residence. Available reporting cited here does not establish details of other Florida incidents.
The available reporting does not establish Longwood's county, a countywide crash-rate comparison, or a 2024 crash total.
It also isn't clear from available reporting whether anyone inside the struck vehicle or the home was injured in the Longwood crash. No charge upgrade has been reported in this case as of publication.
