Tampa Riots

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The city of Tampa, Florida, has experienced at least three major instances of rioting.

[edit] Tampa Riots of 1967

On June 11, 1967, 19 year old Martin Chambers was suspected of robbing a camera store. Chambers ran from police near Nebraska and Harrison Streets and was shot in the back and died. Several days of riots around Central Avenue followed.

State Attorney Paul Antinori ruled the shooting was justifiable. A 1990 investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement also found the shooting justifiable. The case was re-opened in 2007 under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act.

[edit] Tampa Riots of 1987

On February 20th, 1987, a group of 200 to 400 blacks began rioting after starting a fire in a dumpster at the intersection of 22nd Street and Lake Avenue in the College Hill community in East Tampa.

The incident started the night after the death of mentally-handicapped black man, Melvin Eugene Hair. He died after police used a carotid neck-hold on him. Less than 24 hours later, the attorney's office released a report clearing police of racism in the December 1986 arrest of baseball star Dwight Gooden. The incidents sparked three nights of rioting.

[edit] Tampa Riots of 1989

Drug dealer Edgar Allen Price was arrested on February 1st, 1989. Price scuffled with police, and later died. Word of his death spread in the College Hill community, leading to several nights of violence including the burning down of a local supermarket. Black residents believed he was beaten to death by police, but an investigation revealed that he died from asphyxiation after having his hands and legs cuffed and placed face down in the back of a police cruiser.

[edit] References

• 40 Years of seeking justiceSt. Petersburg Times
• Disturbance sears east Tampa St. Petersburg Times
• At his death, a city erupted St. Petersburg Times