High-speed Pinellas chase ends with crash, fatality

Stacy Naples already was hours late bringing her 5-year-old nephew home to his mother Wednesday night. But she still took a brief detour, pulling into the parking lot of a closed automobile dealership to sell a little marijuana, authorities said.

That decision, investigators say, ultimately led to a car chase through St. Petersburg that ended tragically. Pursued by deputies, Naples slammed her Infiniti into a car driven by 50-year-old Richard Trompke, who later died.

Trompke's death is the second in less than two weeks that occurred during a law enforcement chase in the Tampa Bay area. Earlier this month, Hernando County Sheriff's Deputy John Mecklenburg died when he lost control of his squad car during a chase.

Sheriff's officials said they had little choice but to pursue Naples. When the activity in the car dealership attracted the attention of Deputy Harry Harris at about 11:30 p.m., Naples tried to run him over, then sped off, the sheriff's office said.

Another deputy, Claudio Dimundo, saw what happened and gave chase.

From that lot at 34th Street and 47th Avenue, Naples barreled south, leading Dimundo and his colleagues on a high-speed pursuit. Investigators said the woman who was trying to buy the marijuana screamed at Naples to let her out and frantically waved her arms out the window to pursuing deputies, pleading for help.

Naples' nephew, Isaiah Thomas Jr., was unrestrained in the front seat.

With deputies close behind, Naples, 28, drove more than 65 blocks, eventually running a stop sign and crashing into the driver's side of a 2002 Kia Optima driven by Trompke, the sheriff's office said.

A woman passenger in the Kia survived. Naples, her nephew and her passenger, Michelle Cruz, 41, were not injured, even though the boy was thrown to the floor when the cars collided.

Trompke's brother, a captain in the Bradenton Fire Department, declined to comment, as did their father. His cousin, Jeff Trompke, said, however, the family was "a little angry."

"It's an accident that shouldn't have happened," Jeff Trompke said. "Why do you have to chase her? I don't think they should have chased her."

"It's an innocent person that gets killed in the chase," said Trompke, who lives in Parrish. "It's happened before in the Tampa Bay area."

The wreck was especially tragic because Trompke, who has Parkinson's disease, recently underwent a procedure that stimulated his brain, and his condition improved as a result, Jeff Trompke said.

Trompke worked at the Ybor City nightclub The Castle. He was a promoter and disc jockey who went by the name of DJ Rick, said Sheri Shuttleworth, a manager at the club. He also worked for Verizon for years, she said.

He had taken some time off because of his illness, Shuttleworth said, but in the last year he was back to work at the club.

Trompke was a kind and considerate person, she said. He was known to bake a cake, a pie or brownies for anyone he knew who was celebrating a birthday.

"He was the nicest guy you'd ever meet," Shuttleworth said. "No one can say anything bad because there's nothing bad to say. He's the guy if you had a problem he'd be there."

Pinellas sheriff's spokeswoman Marianne Pasha said Dimundo was acting well within the parameters of the agency's pursuit policy.

Dimundo had witnessed Naples try to run over Harris, an act considered an aggravated assault on a fellow law enforcement agent, Pasha said. "That is sufficient reason to initiate a pursuit in order to arrest the suspect," she said.

After the crash, Naples was arrested and charged with, among other things, vehicular homicide and fleeing and eluding. She was released from the Pinellas County Jail on Thursday afternoon after posting $80,000 bond.

Christine Rivera, 24, who is Naples' sister and Thomas' mother, said she fell asleep Wednesday night waiting for Naples to bring her son home. The last she heard from her sister was 10:30 p.m., about an hour before the wreck, and Naples said she was on her way, Rivera said.

The next time the phone rang was 12:30 a.m., when authorities called her. She rushed to the scene of the wreck to pick up her son.

"No scratches, no bruises," Rivera said. "The grace of God was watching over him."

Rivera said her sister called her early Thursday from the Pinellas County Jail.

"I could hear her crying," Rivera said. "She said she was sorry, very, very sorry."

The telephone call was short, and Rivera wasn't sure her sister was apologizing for Trompke's death or that she had placed Rivera's son in danger. "I believe she was talking about both," she said.

At the time of the wreck, Naples had 3.9 grams of crack cocaine in her possession, affidavits state. She also had 1.7 grams of marijuana, which she was preparing to sell to Cruz before Harris pulled up, affidavits state.

Naples also was charged with possession of a controlled substance, false imprisonment, driving with a suspended or revoked license involving death, driving with a suspended or revoked license involving serious injury, child abuse, aggravated assault with a motor vehicle and possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver.

She repeatedly has been accused of operating a motor vehicle without a license, and her license last was revoked, for a five-year-period, in October, according to records with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

She also has been ticketed at various times on allegations of running a stop sign, speeding and driving without her lights on, the records say.

Her driving record shows she repeatedly received tickets for driving without a license, then continued to drive, refusing to pay any tickets. Jail affidavits say her license was suspended, cancelled or revoked in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010.

She has also been previously convicted of marijuana possession.