Two Hillsborough County teenagers are facing charges after Florida Highway Patrol troopers said they raced each other at speeds topping 140 mph on Interstate 75 early Friday, a chase that ended with one car spinning off the road and the other stopped at the entrance to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino. Eighteen-year-old Kamari Antwone Marables and 19-year-old Omarize Ja'quan Thomas were both taken into custody and charged with racing on the highway and fleeing to elude.
According to wfla.com, a trooper parked in the median of I-75 around 2:24 a.m. reported seeing two gray sedans speeding past in the northbound lanes. As reported by 10 Tampa Bay, the trooper first spotted the two Infiniti sedans near the Gibsonton Drive exit traveling roughly 100 mph in a posted 70 mph zone, according to the arrest affidavit.
Speeds Topped 140 MPH as Cars Weaved Through Traffic
From there, the station reports, the two vehicles began racing and weaving through northbound traffic, reaching estimated speeds over 140 mph. The trooper's own patrol vehicle hit 140 mph while giving chase, and the sedans were believed to be going even faster, per the same account. The pair were making aggressive and unsafe lane changes at those extreme speeds to weave through and pass other motorists, the report notes.
The suspects then exited I-75 onto I-4, 10 Tampa Bay reports, as the trooper activated emergency lights after overtaking them. Marables sped away from the trooper, while Thomas allegedly drove in front of the trooper's vehicle and repeatedly pressed his brakes, according to the station's reporting.
PIT Maneuver Ends One Chase, Casino Entrance Ends the Other
A trooper used a PIT maneuver on Thomas, causing his car to rotate off the road and come to a stop on the shoulder, the wfla.com report states. A second trooper continued following Marables, who was ultimately stopped just off I-4 at the entrance to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino. Both men were taken into custody by troopers and charged with racing on the highway and fleeing to elude.
Part of a Broader Pattern on Florida Highways
The Tampa case follows a string of similar high-speed racing arrests across Florida this year. Two drivers were arrested after troopers said they raced Ford Mustangs at speeds exceeding 120 mph on Interstate 4 near mile marker 17 in a posted 70 mph zone, according to tampabay28.com. In Manatee County, troopers arrested two drivers accused of racing down northbound I-75 at speeds exceeding 120 mph, and FOX 13 News reported that investigators found a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old in the back seat of one car; state law required both vehicles to be impounded for 30 business days.
Farther north, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and Florida Highway Patrol made 22 arrests connected to a crackdown on racing at car meet-up events called Operation Braking News, with JSO also issuing 28 traffic citations and civil traffic law violations, according to News4JAX. Statewide, troopers made 967 arrests for dangerous excessive speeding through June 15, 2026, ClickOrlando.com reported.
What Florida Law Says About Racing and Fleeing
Under Florida Statutes §316.191, racing is defined as using one or more vehicles in an attempt to outgain, outdistance, or prevent another vehicle from passing, or to arrive at a destination ahead of another vehicle, while a drag race involves two or more vehicles accelerating from a point side by side to outdistance each other or compare speed over a course. The statute prohibits driving or participating in a race, speed competition, drag race, acceleration contest, or exhibition of speed on public roads, per the Florida Legislature.
Separately, Florida Statutes §316.1935 makes it unlawful for a driver to willfully refuse or fail to stop after an officer in an authorized vehicle orders them to do so, with aggravated forms of fleeing or eluding classified as felonies. The two statutes address racing and fleeing or eluding. The chase stretched from I-75 to the entrance of the Seminole Hard Rock Casino.
