Community Corner

Fund Set To Aid Lilly Mills' Family

A reported DUI crash at U.S. 301 and Bloomingdale Avenue claimed the life of Lilly Mills, 5. Her sister needs plastic surgery and their father's injuries are keeping him from work. A contribution fund has been established at Bank of America.

A contribution fund has been established for the family of a 5-year-old girl killed in a crash caused by an alleged drunken driver.

Lilly Christine Mills died July 2 from injuries she sustained in the crash at U.S. 301 and Bloomingdale Avenue. She will be buried July 12 at Serenity Meadows Memorial Gardens and Funeral Home.

Her sister, Audrey, 7, suffered facial injuries in the July 1 crash and needs plastic surgery, according to their great-grandmother, Sharon Trapp. Her grandson, she added, the girls’ father, a tiler and carpenter, suffered neck and back injuries and is unable to work.

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To assist the family, Trapp has established a contribution fund at Bank of America (see details below). 

“My grandson had to say goodbye and watch [Lilly] be taken off of life support,” Trapp said in an interview with Bloomingdale Patch Editor D’Ann White. “He said it’s the hardest thing he’s ever done.” (For more on the interview, .)

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Also treated and released with injuries from the accident were Paul Mills’ other two daughters, Kayla Marie Mills, 10, and Sophia Evy Mills, 2, and his wife, Samantha Anne Populin, 25, who is the natural mother of Lilly and Sophia, according to Trapp.

"My grandson, Paul, doesn't remember much about the crash. He just remembers hearing children crying and seeing airbags,” Trapp said in the Bloomingdale Patch interview. "All of them were wearing seatbelts but Lilly was sitting on the side that was hit."

The driver who reportedly caused the five-car crash, Rolando Rojas, 52, of 120 East Crenshaw St., has been charged with driving under the influence serious injury, vehicular homicide, DUI manslaughter, reckless driving involving serious injury, four counts of DUI involving property damage and DUI.

Rojas is being held without bond at the Hillsborough County Jail.

According to the accident report, Rojas was driving north on U.S. 301, in a 1999 Ford Ranger, when at 9:37 p.m. he tried to pass between two vehicles that were stopped for traffic south of Bloomingdale Avenue.

He reportedly sideswiped both — a Nissan Altima in the outside lane and a Honda Civic — and then continued into the intersection, where he crashed into the right side of the 2002 Chrysler van driven by Samantha Populin. Rojas’ truck then rolled over and hit a Ford Mustang.

There were no other injuries reported among the occupants of the other vehicles involved in the crash.

The Florida Highway Patrol investigation remains open at this time.  Toxicology results are not expected for several weeks or months in the crash.

The contribution fund for "Samantha Poulin/Paul Mills” is established at Bank of America, under Account No. 1800-4321000.

Supporters also can send checks to: The Samantha Populin/Paul Mills Contribution Fund, Bank of America, 13180 South U.S. 301, Riverview.

Donations also can be sent directly to the family, at 8431 Valrie Lane, Riverview, Fla., 33569.

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