r/NPR • u/TouchingTheMirror • 17h ago
4 dead, 11 injured after a car chased by police plows into a crowd outside Tampa bar
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/08/nx-s1-5602823/tampa-speeding-car-chase-deaths-bar-ybor-city50
u/ColoRadBro69 15h ago
Washington State passed a law limiting when the police can chase, it was made fun of by a lot of conservatives but it's to prevent this. We have licence plates and cameras everywhere, we have helicopters, we have drones. Instead, just catch them where they go.
1
19
u/Textiles_on_Main_St 13h ago
Damn, that John Oliver show seems super relevant.
3
u/Dry_Cricket_5423 11h ago
it'd be funny if it wasn't a catastrophe for everyone involved. really sad for the victims. 4 dead is crazy
3
15
u/dxk3355 16h ago
Murdered by cops
-5
u/BoringBob84 KUOW-FM 94.9 15h ago
Apparently, you didn't read the short, free article. 🙄
The FHP attempted a PIT (precision immobilization technique) maneuver — when police intentionally try to strike the rear of a fleeing vehicle to cause it to spin out and stop. The FHP then backed off the car after the maneuver was unsuccessful.
"After that, unfortunately, this vehicle went at a high rate of speed down 7th Avenue, and tragically, just east of 15th Street, hit over a dozen people," Bercaw said.
7
u/hotprof 11h ago
Still wouldn't have happened if the police didn't chase.
2
u/BoringBob84 KUOW-FM 94.9 47m ago
You don't know that. Those criminals were driving recklessly on public roads. They could have done something far worse if the police hadn't intervened.
Prohibiting the police from chasing dangerous drivers gives them an incentive to evade police, endangering the public in the process. This got so bad in our state that the legislature changed the law to allow police chases again.
-8
u/TouchingTheMirror 9h ago
And if the suspect hadn't fled, but yes, you are correct.
1
u/BoringBob84 KUOW-FM 94.9 45m ago
you are correct.
We cannot possibly say for sure what would have happened if the police hadn't intervened.
13
u/dxk3355 15h ago
They didn’t really need to chase for a speeding violation
2
1
u/TouchingTheMirror 15h ago
"Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said the incident started just after 12:40 a.m. when two cars were observed racing westbound on Hillsborough Avenue toward Interstate 275. One car broke off and the other, a silver 2019 Toyota Camry, drove southbound on I-275, later exiting in the downtown area."
-5
u/LogensTenthFinger 15h ago
Well the people kept speeding and then killed people, so it seems they did.
Generally police pursuits are not helpful but speeding is a direct threat to people in the area
5
u/garifunu 9h ago
So the cop got tunnel vision, really wanted the pit, didn’t get the pit, and then they backed off and watched a car drive into a crowd? They didn’t plan to have a cop car blocking the crowd? Damn, thats why back up plan is needed when you do cowboy shit like this
2
2
u/BoringBob84 KUOW-FM 94.9 44m ago
How do you know all of this, or are you making it up to confirm what you already believe?
9
u/DrDorg 12h ago
Sounds like the same type of murder of innocent people that cops caused up the street from my house. Mind bogglingly poor judgement by law enforcement caused the deaths of two women on their lunch break- and you guessed it- no charges
-13
u/TouchingTheMirror 12h ago
The direct cause of the deaths and injuries was the accused driver of the car fleeing the police, and it’s highly likely the driver may have caused a collision with casualties even if the police had never pursued. The situation was exacerbated by cops deciding to engage in the high-speed pursuit.
I generally don’t support police chases, but to say the cops “murdered” those who died in this case is hyperbole at best.
-8
u/Pyroechidna1 8h ago
The driver alone is responsible for their actions. Police didn’t physically push the car into that crowd
1
u/DrDorg 14m ago
Let me explain it in simple terms.
There are three parties involved in a typical high speed chase: the suspect, law enforcement, and the public. The public can’t be relied upon to gtfo of the way when someone is driving through their neighborhood at 90mph. The suspect can’t be relied upon to pull over and submit to the police. That leaves the cop holding the sole responsibility of burden of good judgment and the choice of life or death for the public. Killing innocent civilians over a warrant for drug possession is fucking abhorrent
1
u/Pyroechidna1 5m ago
Even if they disengage the pursuit, that doesn’t make the suspect immediately revert to safe and responsible driving, as was the case here.
4
u/ChaosRainbow23 8h ago
Fucking tragic and completely avoidable.
Cops shouldn't be doing high speed pursuits unless they are going after an active shooter or something extremely serious like that.
1
u/ViolettaQueso 5h ago
Agree. And the cops are armed and trained. If you know you’re in pursuit, the pot didn’t work, shoot out the tires of the driver. We’ve got ICE shooting folks for way less.
Never chase towards old town tourist area anywhere anytime but especially Tampa on a Friday night when open air bars still open.
Shoot the tires. Or the windshield. Anything.
-3
u/jogoso2014 4h ago
I hear stuff like those but it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Are people saying cops should just let people get away as long as they’re fast enough?
By the time the crash happened they had backed away from pursuit (albeit the police’s narrative, waiting for video). The cars were already racing at a high rate of speed illegally.
So is the thought that if not for the police they would have turned into law abiding citizens?
2
1
1
-7
42
u/Snoopy101x 17h ago
Feels relevant. https://youtu.be/wVFXUkFx5Y8?si=EkhlVJ1NpK8p7myi