The Brief
The four victims who died in the deadly Ybor City crash have been identified after a driver lost control of his car and crashed into the side of Bradley’s on 7th early Saturday morning.
25-year-old Christina Richards, 41-year-old Lisa Johnson, 53-year-old Sherman Jones and 53-year-old Marlon Collins were killed.
The driver, 22-year-old Silas Sampson, is now facing four counts of vehicular homicide and four counts of aggravated fleeing to elude causing bodily injury or death.
TAMPA, Fla. – The four victims who died in the deadly Ybor City crash over the weekend have been identified.
Christina Richards, 25; Lisa Johnson, 41; Sherman Jones, 53; and Marlon Collins, 53; were killed after a driver lost control of his car and crashed into the side of Bradley’s on 7th early on Saturday morning.
Bradley’s reopened Monday afternoon for the first time since the incident, with a memorial now at the front entrance. The Ybor City bar is considered a pillar in the Tampa gay community, but police don’t believe it was a targeted act.
The backstory
The driver, 22-year-old Silas Sampson, is accused of ramming into a massive crowd outside Bradley’s on 7th, located in the 1500 block of East 7th Avenue in Ybor City. More than a dozen people were hit outside the business, officials said.
Silas Sampson during first court appearance in Hillsborough County.
Before the crash, though, authorities said Tampa police officers spotted two vehicles racing near Hanna Avenue and Nebraska Avenue at around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday. They proceeded westbound on Hillsborough Avenue when one of the vehicles drove onto I-275 Southbound.
TPD’s air unit tracked it as it then exited downtown. Florida Highway Patrol troopers joined in and tracked the vehicle to Nebraska Avenue and Palm Avenue, where they attempted a PIT maneuver.
Despite that, TPD said the vehicle proceeded down Ybor City’s busy 7th Avenue when the vehicle lost control and plowed into the crowd outside Bradley’s on 7th.
The crash rattled the community, and a vigil for the victims on Saturday night drew so many people that police had to shut down the area to traffic.
Sampson appeared virtually in court Sunday morning where the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office filed a motion to keep the Ybor City crash suspect in custody, citing that he poses a danger to the community.
PREVIOUS: Ybor City crash suspect accused of ramming into crowd, killing 4, makes first court appearance
Witnesses to the deadly crash on 7th Avenue
Dig deeper
Monday afternoon, a woman and her daughter wiped away tears as they came back to the scene for the first time since they say Sampson hit their car before police say he crashed into the bar.
“This is my daughter,” the woman, Jennifer, said, pointing to the freeze-frame of surveillance video TPD released that showed the moments right before the crash. “You can see that she is scared to death. I’m over here holding the steering wheel in my hands and white-knuckling it, basically. We were driving down this road right here and the car just all of a sudden just smashed right into us.”
“I was scared. I was scared for me. I scared for my daughter. There was nothing I could do at that moment. I couldn’t go on the sidewalk, obviously. I couldn’t go on the other side of the road. I was stuck,” Jennifer said.
She said she was eventually able to turn onto the next street and her dad came and helped them. They then went to the hospital and have back and neck pain, but feel extremely lucky to be alive.
“He just rammed into everybody and ruined their lives,” Jennifer said. “We did not expect to be hurt. We did not expect our vehicle to be hurt. We did not expect for innocent lives to be hurt and killed.”
Tiffany Jensen came to lay flowers at the growing memorial Monday evening. She was getting pizza right next to Bradley’s shortly before police say Sampson crashed onto the sidewalk and into the side of the bar.
“I get home and check my phone and all I see is four people died,” she said. “I just feel really touched by this because I was here. That could have been me.”
What they’re saying
“You’re asleep and next thing you know there’s a knock on your door, and you find out that your child’s life has been changed or ended,” said Tampa Mayor Jane Castor.
The mayor spent part of the day visiting those who had survived.
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The city is now facing questions about whether anything can be done to keep pedestrians safer in Ybor City. Castor seems hesitant to close down 7th Avenue to vehicles during the busiest times, because she is concerned it would allow late night gatherings to fester after the bars close.
The city is considering adding barriers on certain corners, but it’s unlikely — the mayor says — they would have made a difference in this case. The angle the car took, and the potential it was going 60 miles per hour by some estimates, make it unlikely those devices would have successfully blocked the car.
“When tragedy occurs, the first thing a lot of people want to do is pull out the finger of blame,” said Castor. “And that finger of blame can be pointed directly at the driver.”
Castor also said she would not second-guess the troopers who chased and tried several times to stop Sampson’s speeding car. The crash likely happened, according to the mayor, because Sampson tried to avoid a car that was making a legal turn.
“Nobody was in that person’s brain,” said Tampa councilor Alan Clendenin. “They could not have second guessed where that person, and at the speed, that he was going.”
“Our hearts go out to the friends, the family and the loved ones of those that were lost and all the people that were injured. We hope that you all, the people that were injured, they recover quickly,” Clendenin said.
What’s next
Sampson’s next hearing is set for Thursday at 9:30 a.m. where the court will decide if he will get bond. In the meantime, the Florida Highway Patrol is asking people who saw the crash to give them a call by dialing *FHP.
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The Source
Information for this story was provided by Tampa police and previous FOX 13 reports.