A car fleeing Florida Highway Patrol troopers plowed into a crowd outside a nightclub in Ybor City early Saturday morning, leaving some questioning law enforcement pursuit policies.
In a news release, Tampa Police officials said one of their air units spotted a reckless driver going at high speeds on I-275 before it exited the interstate near downtown.
TPD and Florida Highway patrol located the vehicle near Palm Avenue and Nebraska Avenue and began to pursue it. They unsuccessfully attempted a PIT (precision immobilization technique) maneuver to force the vehicle to stop.
Police stopped the chase, but the driver sped down 7th Avenue, lost control and crashed into more than a dozen people outside of popular LGBTQ+ nightclub Bradley’s on 7th.
Three people died at the scene, a fourth died in the hospital and another 13 were left injured, said TPD officials.
The suspect, 22-year-old Silas Sampson, appeared in court Sunday and has another pretrial hearing scheduled for Thursday.
READ MORE: Four dead, 13 injured after a police chase ends in Ybor City crash
Retired police captain Thomas Gleason is a national pursuit safety trailer for PursuitSAFETY. He said high-speed chases in crowded urban areas like Ybor pose many risks.
“You can be the highest trained person in the whole United States, but that person you’re chasing doesn’t have the same abilities or the same training you do,” said Gleason.
Gleason said officers should rely on helicopters to track suspects whenever possible to reduce the risk to the public.
“You back all your units off and let the air unit call it,” said Gleason. “It increases the likelihood of him decreasing his speed because he thinks he’s got away.
“You’ve got to consider that other vehicles at 3,000 plus pounds, I refer to it as a bullet — especially at (these) speeds,” said Gleason.
Gleason receives calls from across the nation weekly; he said this was the worst pursuit he has ever received a call on.
In response to the Tampa Bay Times’ questions about whether the highway patrol would consider changing its policy after the fatal crash, a spokesperson for the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said blame for the crash lands on Sampson.
“The driver was already operating recklessly and endangering lives before troopers engaged,” Madison Kessler, communications director for the department, told the Times. “Our troopers followed policy, disengaged prior to when the suspect entered a crowded area, and the driver lost control on his own. This tragedy rests solely on the suspect’s reckless actions, not law enforcement.”
FHP guidelines on pursuits allow chases for a wide range of offenses, while TPD restricts pursuits to only cases involving forcible felonies or serious crimes.
Over 100 people attended a Pride of Tampa candlelight vigil Saturday night at Bradley’s.
The Florida Highway Patrol is leading the ongoing investigation of this crash.
