About two minutes before a speeding driver crashed into an Ybor City crowd, he passed a Tampa police officer and two Florida Highway Patrol troopers heading in the opposite direction.

The three cops turned and followed.

It was a key moment preceding a catastrophic crash that killed four and has shaken Tampa since Nov. 8. Made in a matter of seconds, the decision to pursue has revived a long-running question about when cops should chase.

“I haven’t received a call yet from anyone who is a retired or current cop that said FHP should have been chasing that guy,” former Tampa police Chief Brian Dugan told the Tampa Bay Times.

The Tampa crash is a violent reminder of a discrepancy in which state troopers can chase vehicles — and try to force them off the road — in places where local agencie

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