Ybor City crash report illuminates pursuit that led to fatal collision

Shortly after midnight one Saturday last fall, an infrared camera tracked the driver of a Toyota Camry speeding south beside another car on Interstate 275. A Tampa police flight officer, watching from a helicopter, spoke on a radio to report “two that are racing on the highway.”Seconds later, from a fellow officer on the ground, came a reply: “FHP is coming to you.”Two Florida Highway Patrol troopers could hear the flight officer call out the Toyota’s movements through the city. Within 10 minutes, one would chase the driver before he accelerated, darting into Ybor City, where police say he plowed over a sidewalk into a crowd. A 152-page Florida Highway Patrol report released last week gives the fullest account yet of the events leading to the Nov. 8 crash, which killed four and injured 21. The document, which includes summaries of witness interviews and an analysis of crash dynamics, is one piece amid volumes of evidence state prosecutors have assembled in their case against Silas Kenneth Sampson, the driver accused of causing the catastrophic collision. Coupled with 11 minutes of recently released helicopter footage, the records illuminate new details, among them: - The report confirms, for the first time, that troopers involved in the pursuit had access to a Tampa police radio, which allowed them to monitor communications between city police officers. - While Tampa police made no formal request for assistance from the Highway Patrol, troopers almost immediately began to chase Sampson as he sped away — a pursuit Tampa police policy prohibited but which the Highway Patrol allowed. - The two troopers involved, Alejandro Carrasco and Jeffrey Cantwell, both declined to participate in interviews with investigators after the crash. It is unclear why.The Tampa Police Department has acknowledged that a high-level commander gave eight radios to the Highway Patrol. But the department previously had not said whether the troopers who pursued Sampson had one. The department has since taken back the radios. Sampson, 23, is charged with DUI manslaughter and a litany of other crimes related to the chase and collision. While the report concludes he was ultimately responsible for the crash, it leaves questions unanswered, including: Should the troopers have refrained from chasing him? It started when someone heard gunshots.At 12:35 a.m., a call went out over Tampa police radio about possible gunfire near North Nebraska and East Hanna avenues.Officers Brian Alofs and Robert Williams were high in the city skies in a Tampa police helicopter. Alofs, a pilot, steered the aircraft toward the Old Seminole Heights neighborhood. Williams, a tactical flight officer, operated a high-definition camera with infrared technology and night vision.As they circled overheard, Alofs said he saw two cars speeding west along Hillsborough Avenue, near North 22nd Street, roughly 1.3 miles southeast of the reported gunshots. Williams turned his camera and spotted one of the cars, described as a gray sedan, near 19th Street. The helicopter followed as the gray car turned south onto I-275. As it moved, a second sedan, this one with a sunroof, appeared nearby. This second car, according to the report, was the Toyota Camry that Sampson drove. The video the police department recently released begins here. The footage shows Sampson pulling alongside a third car and slowing. The two cars run parallel, then accelerate in what the report describes as “an apparent speed contest.” It lasted 23 seconds. A speed monitor on the aerial camera at one point recorded the cars moving at more than 100 mph. The speed limit on that stretch of highway, near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, is 55 mph. Shortly before 12:40 a.m., Williams spoke on a citywide police radio channel, reporting the apparent race.The report notes that Williams “did not directly request (the Florida Highway Patrol) to respond.” Yet about 20 seconds later, there came a reply from a fellow Tampa police officer: “FHP is coming to you.”The response came from Officer Madison Peters, according to the report, who had just finished a traffic stop miles away. Joining him in separate marked vehicles were Highway Patrol Troopers Alejandro Carrasco and Jeffrey Cantwell. “All right, he’s coming up on the junction,” Williams replied, according to audio of the radio traffic. “I’ll let you know which way he goes.”Sampson eventually pulled far ahead of the other driver, then slowed considerably as he moved toward downtown Tampa. The helicopter followed as Sampson drove onto Doyle Carlton Drive, then wound through Tampa Heights.Williams later noted Sampson’s erratic driving and several apparent traffic violations along the way — rolling through a stop sign at Henderson Avenue; following another car too closely; stopping behind a group of cars on East Palm Avenue then remaining still as traffic began to move. At 12:45 a.m., Sampson turned south onto North Nebraska Avenue. Peters and the two Highway Patrol troopers, coming from the other direction, spotted the Toyota. Cantwell later wrote in an incident report that Sampson made a “wide turn” onto Nebraska, nearly colliding with his patrol car before making an “exaggerated correction” and almost hitting a curb.If that occurred, it is not apparent from the helicopter video. The footage shows Sampson’s car making what appears to be a normal right turn.After Sampson passed, all three cops turned and began to follow.Peters, the Tampa officer, tailed closest in a police SUV, but he did not attempt to make a traffic stop. Instead, he moved to the right. Carrasco sped up, passing Peters, and began to follow directly behind Sampson as he turned east on Seventh Avenue. Carrasco turned on his blue emergency lights, attempting a traffic stop. It was then, according to the report, that Sampson tried to flee.Carrasco’s car reached 58 mph as the chase began. The speed limit on that stretch of Seventh Avenue is 30 mph.Carrasco attempted what’s known as a PIT maneuver, or Precision Immobilization Technique. It’s a tactic that involves bumping a vehicle’s rear to get it to stop by throwing it off-course. Although Carrasco was not interviewed, the report states that he made the move “to terminate the pursuit as quickly as possible and preserve the safety of the surrounding public.”The patrol car pushed against the Toyota’s left rear. The car fishtailed, veering briefly into the oncoming lane, but stayed moving. It then sped up.Williams’ camera stayed on the Toyota as Sampson blew through the intersection of Nuccio Parkway, moving at 73 mph into the heart of Ybor City. Behind it, Carrasco’s patrol car slowed. Carrasco wrote that he believed it was too dangerous to continue, due to the typically heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic in Ybor City on weekends, the report states. As he backed off, Cantwell radioed for him to “cancel” the pursuit, according to the report.As Sampson approached 15th Street, Alofs also got on the radio.“Hey FHP,” the pilot said. “We’ll keep him in sight if you want to back off, since he’s on Seventh Avenue.”Not a second later, Sampson, moving at more than 90 mph, veered into the oncoming lane, sailed through the intersection, clipped the side of a westbound car, jumped the sidewalk and plowed into the crowd.Over the radio came screams.Michael Pfeiffer, a retired captain with the New Orleans Police Department who has advised on pursuit policies nationwide, reviewed a copy of the Highway Patrol report provided by the Tampa Bay Times. While the pursuit appeared to be consistent with the Highway Patrol’s policy, he said, the decision became unwise as the chase progressed.He noted that the helicopter never lost sight of Sampson’s Toyota. While police began tracking the car late at night when there was little traffic, they soon moved to a dense urban setting with busy venues. And, Pfeiffer noted, the suspect’s driving got worse after the chase began.“Who thinks the public wants you to elevate that risk that high for a traffic violation?” Pfeiffer said. “Get the description of the vehicle, the license plate. The air unit keeps them under surveillance. When they stop, you send units.”Pfeiffer said he has seen instances when a local agency knows its policy prohibits a chase, so officers informally call up the chain for help. While the Highway Patrol gives troopers broad discretion about when to chase a fleeing driver, Tampa police policy is more restrictive, prohibiting cops from pursuing unless a forcible felony or burglary has occurred. “It seems like Tampa recognized at some point that they weren’t giving clear enough guidance to their officers, and their officers may have found a workaround to allow Florida Highway Patrol to help them,” he said. “It seems like Florida Highway Patrol and Tampa PD have, at best, informal mechanisms.”The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, which oversees the Highway Patrol, did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. The Tampa Police Department did not respond to questions about whether there were any communications outside of official channels.An administrative review last month concluded that Tampa police did not ask the Highway Patrol to pursue Sampson. But the department also updated its policy to clarify that officers cannot ask other agencies to pursue in situations where Tampa police policy otherwise prohibits it.As to why troopers declined to speak with investigators, Pfeiffer said if the Highway Patrol has a union that provides legal support, the troopers were likely told not to speak because of possible criminal culpability.“I don’t think there’s any agency that can legally even order one of their people to give a criminal statement that could be against their interests,” he said.Sampson crashed along a strip of sidewalk outside the Copper Shaker restaurant and Bradley’s on 7th, an LGBTQ+ nightclub. Both were packed. When the car tore through, several people at high-top tables outside Bradley’s were knocked to the ground, hurled through the air and slammed against walls and ceilings. Killed were Marlon Anthony Collins, Lisa Sherell Johnson, Kristina Richards and Sherman Jones . More than 20 other people were injured.The Toyota smashed against a pillar outside Bradley’s. Amid the chaos, Sampson tried to run, according to the report. Officers wrangled him into handcuffs.Police found a gun in his car, a 9mm Taurus. There is no indication that it was connected to the earlier report of gunshots, which officers cleared in minutes after finding no sign of a shooting, according to a police record.Troopers said Sampson’s eyes were glassy, his voice was slurred and he smelled of alcohol. Nearly three hours after the collision, investigators drew a blood sample that showed his blood alcohol level at 0.12, well above the 0.08 limit at which state law presumes impairment. In the rear of a patrol car, Sampson hung his head when told how many people had died. Seated alone for hours, he spoke to no one in particular.“I just ruined my life,” he said. “I’m never getting out.”“I don’t want to live no more, bro.” Times staff writer Tony Marrero contributed to this report.