Tampa Police Tighten Pursuit Rules, Reclaim Radios After Deadly Crash

In the wake of November’s catastrophic car crash in Ybor City that occurred after a Florida Highway Patrol pursuit, the Tampa Police Department has updated its pursuit policy and taken back city police radios that had been issued to the highway patrol.

The actions are outlined in an internal memo to police Chief Lee Bercaw summarizing the agency’s internal review of the Nov. 8 pursuit that ended when the fleeing driver veered onto the sidewalk and crashed into a nightclub’s outdoor seating area, killing four people and injuring 13. Bercaw signed the memo Tuesday and the department released it to the Tampa Bay Times in response to a prior public records request.

The review found that Tampa police officers did not request or participate in the Nov. 8 pursuit, District III Capt. Usilia Emilione wrote in the memo.

The department also reviewed all “fleeing to elude” incidents in the city since February 2024 and found that Tampa police did not make such a request in any of those incidents.

But the updated pursuit policy now “clearly states that TPD officers are prohibited from requesting another agency to initiate a pursuit when TPD policy would not allow us to do so,” Emilione wrote.

A Tampa police spokesperson Tuesday provided the previous and revised policy to the Times.

The new languages states that “under no circumstances shall an officer request a law enforcement officer from any other agency to engage or pursue a vehicle that fled from a traffic stop or attempted traffic stop when a pursuit is not authorized under this policy.”

“Officers shall not ask other law enforcement officers to do for them what they are prohibited from doing,” the policy states. “A request to engage or pursue will not be made directly or indirectly in any form (cell phone, text, radio, via Communications, Aviation Unit or otherwise).

While the review was still underway, the police department “as a proactive measure” took back eight portable radios that had been issued to the highway patrol, Emilione’s memo says.

The department also updated its policy to say that Tampa police personnel are not allowed to provide a portable police radio to an officer from another agency “without express authorization from a captain or higher authority” unless there is “exigent operational need.”

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, which includes the highway patrol, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday evening.

The crash cast a spotlight on how Tampa police and the highway patrol may have engaged within the city’s jurisdiction before the Ybor crash, especially given that the agencies have dramatically different pursuit policies. The highway patrol, which has jurisdiction on virtually every public road in Florida, encourages its officers to pursue. The city of Tampa has stricter guidelines.

The Times reported in December that, as part of the internal review, the police department was looking at whether a prior decision by a division commander to share department radios with state troopers played a role in the crash.

State law enforcement agencies already use a shared digital network called the Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System. Local police departments can patch into that system so troopers and police officers can talk directly. Police department radios, however, allowed troopers to communicate directly with police officers and monitor radio traffic on a citywide channel used by Tampa police without needing to be patched in.

The memo reiterates what Tampa police and Mayor Jane Castor, a former police chief, told the Times last year: that the radios were provided to the highway patrol to allow for efficient communication between agencies in various situations including “major events such as Gasparilla, the 2017 (Seminole Heights) serial killer investigation, addressing street racing takeovers and other special operations, as well as routine deployments in Ybor City.”

Castor previously said through a spokesperson that state troopers had the Tampa police radios in their cars “so they have situational awareness of what’s going on in the areas they are patrolling.”

The Times asked if the mayor had concerns that sharing police radios, whether intended or not, may have resulted in troopers starting pursuits in Tampa that would be forbidden by the city’s policy.

No, the spokesperson replied.

Now, Emilione’s memo states, “future communication with FHP will be coordinated with our communications division with the main radio frequencies to ensure transparency and accountability for all involved.”

The memo does not specify if the state trooper who started the Ybor pursuit, Alejandro Carrasco, had a police radio at the time. The department has not previously answered that question when asked by the Times, citing the ongoing review.

The updated policies are more in line with those of other Tampa Bay law enforcement agencies.

The Pinellas County’s Sheriff’s Office prohibits deputies from contacting the highway patrol when a driver has fled and a pursuit is not authorized under the office’s more restrictive policy. In those cases, deputies cannot issue “be-on-the-lookout” information beyond their agency’s dispatch system.

In St. Petersburg, either the highway patrol or the police department must request a radio patch so they can talk to each other, and a police supervisor must approve the patch.

A spokesperson for the state highway safety department previously told the Times that the driver in the Ybor crash was driving recklessly before Carrasco started the pursuit, that troopers followed agency policy and “disengaged” from the chase when the suspect entered a crowded area.

Court documents and information previously released by police, including video from the police department’s helicopter, indicate Carrasco got the suspect’s location from a radio transmission.

The helicopter spotted two cars racing on east Hillsborough Avenue about 12:30 that morning. One of the drivers, in a Toyota Camry, got onto Interstate 275 and headed south.

“Our air service goes over the radio and asks if any units are in the area,” police Chief Lee Bercaw told reporters that day.

The person behind the wheel of the Toyota, later determined to be Silas Sampson of Dade City, was driving “in a reckless and erratic manner,” court records state.

Sampson exited onto Doyle Carlton Drive. As Sampson approached Nebraska Avenue, “the TPD aviation unit communicated the location of the vehicle to a TPD patrol unit as well as to the patrol vehicles of two Florida Highway Patrol troopers,” a court document states.

All three law enforcement officers turned around and followed the Camry south on Nebraska. The driver was not then a suspect in a type of felony that would have allowed the Tampa officer to pursue if the suspect fled.

The helicopter video shows at least one of the Highway Patrol troopers, identified in court documents as Carrasco, turned on lights and sirens to make a traffic stop. The Tampa officer did not. Sampson turned onto Seventh and headed east toward an entertainment district packed with Friday night revelers, records state.

Sampson accelerated and Carrasco gave chase. Seconds later, the video shows, Carrasco tried what’s known as a precision immobilization technique, or PIT maneuver, striking the car’s rear, but Sampson maintained control and continued east on Seventh, crossing Nuccio Parkway, according to the video and court records.

The video shows Carrasco slowing as the Toyota passes beneath the arch that marks the Ybor City historic district, just east of Nuccio Parkway and roughly three blocks west of the Bradley’s on 7th nightclub.

“Hey, FHP, we’ll keep him in sight if you wanna back off since he’s on Seventh Avenue,” the helicopter pilot says, according to a longer version of the video released to the Times Tuesday.

Just as the pilot finished that sentence, Sampson veered onto the sidewalk and crashed into the club’s patio, according to the video and court records.

Sampson, 23, is facing more than three dozen charges including multiple counts of vehicular homicide and DUI manslaughter and is being held without bail until trial. He has pleaded not guilty and his next court date is a status hearing is set for Aug. 31.

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