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 patio 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 already faced four counts of vehicular homicide and four counts of aggravated fleeing to elude.
He's scheduled to appear at the Hillsborough County Courthouse on Thursday morning for a pretrial hearing.
The state had filed a motion for Sampson's pretrial 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 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.
According to the Office of the State Attorney, two people sustained serious injuries. One of them remains in a medically induced coma.
Additional charges are expected, pending the results of a blood draw, the affidavit said.
Timeline of events
According to the affidavit, Sampson was actively fleeing from state troopers 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 Tampa police patrol vehicle and two 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," according to the report.
Sampson's vehicle, traveling south on Nebraska Avenue, made a left turn onto Seventh Avenue, "accelerating rapidly" east as troopers continued the pursuit.
The affidavit said a trooper identified in documents as A. Carrasco unsuccessfully attempted a precision immobilization technique (PIT) — 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 Seventh 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," the report said.
Just before Sampson's vehicle approached 15th Street, about 130 feet away from the club, Bradley's on 7th, the Camry was traveling between 92 and 100 mph and 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.
Tampa police officers quickly responded to the scene.
While in custody, Sampson made "spontaneous statements" including that he "made a mistake" and asked how many people he killed, the report said.
Law enforcement officers said they believed Sampson was under the influence of alcohol, citing an "odor of alcohol emanating from the defendant," slurred speech, and bloodshot, watery eyes. Officers obtained a search warrant for a blood sample.
This story has been updated to reflect the correct number of people sustaining major injuries.
