In the hours and days since the fatal crash in Ybor City, hundreds of comments have poured in, with many concerned about law enforcement's chase of the 22-year-old suspected driver, Silas Sampson, into the heart of one of the busiest parts of Tampa.
“The whole — all the puzzle pieces of the night leading up that chase, all that, I feel like could have been avoided," Cam Parker told Tampa Bay 28.
Watch full report from Kylie McGivern
Parker was having a conversation on Bradley's patio on November 8.
"Like there was a sentence coming out of my mouth and the next thing I know, there's — it seems like the building's being ripped up in slow motion," Parker said."When everything comes to and everything stops, the dust and the blow-back settles, I realize that there's a car right in front of us."
Parker said a woman was pinned between the tables.
"Quite literally crumpled up before me, and she's like, don't leave me, help me, help me, don't leave me, I'm like I'm not going to leave you because I wouldn't want to be left," Parker said.
Now, Parker and others are left to wonder why Florida Highway Patrol's chase of driver Sampson, captured on video by the Tampa Police Department, came as close to 7th Avenue as it did. The pursuit broke off three blocks before Bradley's, "due to the heavy traffic in the area of Ybor City," according to court documents.
New court records released on Wednesday reveal less than 10 seconds prior to the crash, the vehicle was "actively fleeing from a traffic stop" because the vehicle had been traveling in a reckless manner, as observed by the Tampa Police Department's air unit. The vehicle entered the Ybor City area, still fleeing from Trooper Carrasco after an unsuccessful PIT attempt.
"The vehicle was traveling at 92 to 100 miles per hour as it approached the intersection with North 15th Street on East 7th Avenue," the court document says.
"I feel like where the chase stopped, where they 'retreated', could have been miles and miles away," Parker said.
Another survivor, Shane, had stepped inside to go to the bathroom in the moments the crash happened. His friend is still recovering after being hospitalized.
"It was definitely too close, you would think with modern technology you could just get their tag, send a drone after them to follow, like I don't see why we have to chase them and do all that," he told Tampa Bay 28.
The Tampa Bay 28 I-Team found, last year, Florida Highway Patrol revised its pursuits policy, giving troopers more discretion to initiate chases. A trooper has to determine if the suspect is actively fleeing a law enforcement officer or has previously committed a forcible felony.
Dr. Roy Taylor also has concerns about the pursuit.
Taylor has been a chief of police in federal, state, local and private law enforcement agencies for the past 31 years and also serves as an expert witness in federal court on police procedure matters.
He criticized FHP's pursuit policy change when it was implemented.
"Very unfortunate, that number of people that were killed and injured because of this. But you know, certainly, if the pursuit would have remained on the interstate, then the trooper could have continued the pursuit, but as soon as he saw the vehicle exit onto a surface street, he should have immediately disengaged, turned off his lights and siren and stayed on the highway," Taylor told the I-Team.
The U.S. Department of Justice released guidelines for vehicular pursuits in 2023. We found some of those recommendations appear to be in conflict with what happened on Tampa city streets Nov. 8.
The report calls a policy that allows officers to pursue someone for reckless driving "a more controversial standard."
The report says "a driver who is already operating recklessly may take ever more risks to escape police."
The report also says, "if a suspect begins driving more recklessly after police intervention, it is important to discontinue the pursuit."
It specifically mentions the use of aviation or drones to track a suspect, saying officers should "disengage from a pursuit once remote tracking is active."
"Especially in this situation, because that video we watch is from a helicopter, so there's a police helicopter already locked in on this person, and could have easily coordinated other units to converge and get the same guy stopped. So the result would have been the same, law enforcement would prevail, but we wouldn't have death or injuries," Taylor said.
FHP has expressed that this is the responsibility of the driver.
"My professional opinion as an expert witness and as a chief of police, they still bear some responsibility. Because they've had an opportunity to try to stop this person, he voluntarily didn't stop," Taylor said. "And then they saw him get off on a surface street, that should have been, you know, a red flag that this pursuit is too dangerous to continue and we need to terminate it as quickly as possible."
Taylor said he hopes this will lead FHP to take another look at its pursuits policy. The I-Team contacted the agency to find out if there are any plans to do that and asked whether FHP will bring in an outside agency to review all aspects of the crash.
The I-Team has not yet heard back.
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