TAMPA, Fla. – On November 8, 2025, a person crashed his rushing automobile into a big crowd of pedestrians exterior Bradley’s on seventh in Ybor Metropolis, Florida, whereas evading police. The devastating incident killed 4 individuals, Christina Richards, Lisa Johnson, Sherman Jones, and Marlon Collins, and injured 13 others. This tragedy shook Tampa Bay and members of the LGBTQ+ group, lots of whom frequented Bradley’s on seventh.
The tragedy has pressured Tampa Bay to reassess the way it handles harmful drivers fleeing police pursuits and has renewed conversations concerning the penalties of reckless driving and police pursuits. As voters take into account candidates for public workplace, they need to study the information of these in search of to form public security insurance policies that have an effect on their communities.
A candidate’s document deserves scrutiny
In 2015, Luis Salazar, who’s now operating as a Democrat for Florida Home District 64 in West Tampa, was arrested and later pleaded responsible to fleeing and trying to elude a police officer, driving underneath the affect (with a blood alcohol stage over 0.15), and driving with no legitimate license.
Salazar didn’t simply attempt to evade the police. He was already pulled over when he grabbed the keys off the automobile, obtained again within the automobile, and fled. He later blew a 0.21 BAC, practically 3 times the authorized restrict, whereas holding no driver’s license.
The officer wrote within the official police report, “He emitted the robust odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath as he spoke, his eyes had been purple and glassy, and his speech was slurred. I eliminated the keys to the automobile and positioned them on the roof. Whereas awaiting a backup unit, the Defendant retrieved the keys to the automobile and fled the site visitors cease at a excessive fee of pace. The Defendant drove recklessly at a excessive fee of pace with a wanton disregard for the protection of most people.”
As soon as apprehended, the officer wrote, “The Defendant supplied a breath pattern of .200/.210 BrAC. The Defendant has by no means had a sound driver’s license.”
Questions of accountability and public belief
In keeping with his personal LinkedIn profile, Salazar was the social media supervisor for the Tampa Bay Rays on the time of the incident. Since then, he has gone on to turn into president of the Hillsborough LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus. He has additionally labored alongside many elected Democrats. It’s unclear whether or not these officers or organizations had been conscious of the small print of Salazar’s 2015 case.
Now he desires to signify you in Tallahassee, the place it’s technically potential for State Representatives to keep away from being pulled over for rushing throughout a session.
After the tragic incident at Bradley’s, Luis Salazar took to social media to pay his respects however made no point out that he himself had put the Tampa Bay group in the identical hazard years earlier than, just some streets away. He wrote that he hopes the victims discover “peace and justice,” however is it actually justice to elect somebody to a state workplace who so blatantly ignored DUI legal guidelines and evaded police—the very legal guidelines he now claims to care about?
Don’t let the crocodile tears of the social media put up idiot you as Luis Salazar additionally appeared at a Tampa Metropolis Council assembly in 2023, advocating in opposition to curfew legal guidelines when he mentioned, “I grew up in a strict city with curfew legal guidelines and the very last thing it made me do was respect the police, in actual fact the one factor it actually taught me was to run actual quick.” That isn’t the perspective of a person who has repented; fairly, he appears pleased with being anti-police.
What voters should know
Our group must take pressing motion! Luis Salazar has a historical past of reckless conduct that raises critical questions on his health for workplace. The position of a State Home consultant is highly effective and impacts insurance policies for years to return. Permitting somebody with Salazar’s document to affect Florida legislation poses a direct risk to our progress and to our metropolis’s values.
First, I’m calling on Mr. Salazar to finish his marketing campaign for the State Home. Moreover, I implore the Hillsborough Democratic Social gathering, LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus, and all different elected officers to chop ties with Luis Salazar. If he repeats the identical sample of reckless driving and DUIs that might end result within the loss of life of somebody in our group, it would mirror poorly on these who knew this info and continued to raise him.
Within the phrases of his arresting officer, Luis Salazar confirmed a “wanton disregard for the protection of most people.”
Luis Salazar is at present endorsed by: the Florida Training Affiliation, Have interaction Y’all, Ironworkers Native 397, The Hillsborough Society, Florida Jewish Democrats, West Central Florida Labor Council, Electrical Employees Native 915, FL AFL-CIO, Florida Rising, Senator Brian Nathan, and Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith.
Jake Hoffman is the Government Director of the Tampa Bay Younger Republicans and Nationwide Committeeman for the Florida Younger Republicans. He’s additionally the Chair of the Hillsborough DOGE committee.
