The Florida Highway Patrol filed six additional charges Wednesday against Silas Kenneth Sampson, the 22-year-old driver who crashed into an Ybor City nightclub after fleeing law enforcement early Saturday.
The new charges include three counts of reckless driving with serious bodily injury, a third degree felony, and three counts of fleeing to elude high speed with serious bodily injury, a first degree felony.
Sampson was already charged with four counts of vehicular homicide and four counts of aggravated fleeing to elude.
He's scheduled to appear at the Hillsborough County Courthouse Thursday morning for a pre-trial hearing.
The state had filed a motion for Sampson's pre-trial detention, saying "there is a substantial probability, based on the Defendant’s past and present patterns of behavior" that he poses a threat to the community.
Court records identify the four people killed in the crash as Lisa Sherell Johnson, 41, of Auburndale; Marlon Anthony Collins, 53, of Bartow; Sherman Jones, 53, of Tampa; and Christina Maria Richards, 25, of Ohio.
A criminal affidavit filed Wednesday afternoon with the additional charges says three others sustained serious injuries. One of them remains in a medically induced coma.
Additional charges are expected, pending the results of a blood draw, the report said.
Timeline of events
According to the report, Sampson was actively fleeing from Florida Highway Patrol less than 10 seconds prior to the crash.
The Tampa Police Department air unit initially observed Sampson's vehicle, a silver 2019 Toyota Camry, driving in a "reckless and erratic manner" on Interstate 275 at 12:39 a.m.
The air unit informed a TPD patrol vehicle and two Florida Highway Patrol vehicles that the suspect was "street racing on the highway."
About six minutes later, Sampson drove past the three law enforcement vehicles, which made U-turns and began pursuing him.
At least one of the FHP vehicles "activated lights and sirens to effectuate a lawful traffic stop," said the report.
Sampson's vehicle, now traveling south on Nebraska Avenue, made a left turn onto 7th Avenue, "accelerating rapidly" east as FHP continued the pursuit.
The report said FHP Trooper A. Carrasco unsuccessfully attempted a precision immobilization technique — a move in which law enforcement attempts to stop a fleeing vehicle by striking its rear end — as Sampson approached the intersection of Henderson Avenue and 7th Avenue, approximately 0.4 miles away from the crash site.
Carrasco "terminated the high-speed pursuit due to heavy pedestrian traffic further ahead on Seventh Avenue," said the report.
Just before Sampson's vehicle entered the intersection at 7th Avenue and 15th Street, about 130 feet away from Bradley's on 7th, the Toyota Camry, traveling between 92 and 100 mph, struck a westbound Mazda.
At a speed of approximately 77 mph, the vehicle then hit several pedestrians, including Johnson and Collins, on the sidewalk before colliding with an exterior pillar.
At 12:46:11 a.m., about seven minutes after Sampson was first spotted, the report said video surveillance footage shows Sampson's vehicle striking roughly a dozen seated individuals in the outdoor seating area.
Video footage showed Sampson exiting the vehicle and a gun falling from his waistband as he attempted to flee the scene on foot.
TPD officers quickly responded to the scene.
While in custody, Sampson allegedly made "spontaneous statements" including that he "made a mistake" and asked how many people he killed.
Law enforcement officers said they believed Sampson was under the influence of alcohol and obtained a search warrant for a blood sample.
