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Candidate had rocky police career
By KATHRYN WEXLER, Times Staff Writer
TAMPA -- Kevin White, candidate for City Council District 5, is running hard on his experience as a cop. A photo of White as a young Tampa police officer in uniform graces his campaign literature, along with promises to fight crime. But White's four-year career with the Tampa Police Department ended in 1994 under a cloud of ambiguity. Six months earlier, he chased an armed burglary suspect, whose car slammed into a van, sending the van's driver hurtling through the passenger window. Police officials decided White had no valid reason for the pursuit and that he should have stopped to help the badly injured crash victim instead of continuing the chase. The victim sued based on White's actions, and the city ultimately paid $85,000. White quit the department before police Chief Bennie Holder had decided on repercussions. He submitted a letter of resignation on April 10, 1994, two weeks after Police Department attorney Kirby Rainsberger confirmed in writing that White had violated the chase policy. On Wednesday, White, 38, said his resignation had to do with getting a better job, not with the chase. "I was never worried about discipline," White said from his office at St. Pete Jeep Chrysler Plymouth, where he is finance director. Although White received generally positive reviews as an officer, the unauthorized pursuit was one of a string of problems, according to police records. Two months before White resigned, officials determined he had abused his authority by threatening to put a man in jail if he didn't pay White $500 after they had been in a car crash. White received a letter of counseling for that violation. On Wednesday, White said he had done nothing wrong. During his four years with the department, officials found fault with two other car chases in which he was involved. In all, he garnered three letters of counseling and two written reprimands. White was assigned to the Quad Squad, an aggressive troop that patrolled the drug-ridden area of Robles Park -- "the best job I ever had," White said. A supervisor wrote in 1992 that White was "a good, hard-working officer," and in a review in 1993, said he "makes every attempt to be helpful to the community." In his current battle for the east Tampa council seat against Bernadine White-King, White has won endorsements from the police union and the firefighters union. Kevin Durkin, spokesman for the West Central Florida Police Benevolent Association, said Wednesday he was aware of the chase. "I'm familiar with it," Durkin said. "There were people here who knew about it." White said the critically injured motorist in the car chase on Sept. 30, 1993, did not require his aid, as officials later determined. "The person who was ejected had several people helping him and I was apprehending the suspect at the time," White said. The settlement was one of the larger ones for wrongful pursuits, said Michael McNabb, manager for the city's risk management department. In the incident involving the man who accused White of coming to his house to shake him down for $500, White denied making threats. "That was a guy that hit my car," White said. "He told me to come by and he would pay my deductible because he didn't have insurance. I happened to go by after work, in uniform." The victim's claims of intimidation were substantiated by an officer who was riding with White when he went to the victim's house, according to the police report. When White retired his uniform, he took a position with Second Chance Finance, a used car dealership. "I had a job that was going to pay me five times more," White said. "That's why I left, to better my family situation." Michael Krizmanich, owner of Second Chance Finance, had high praise for his manager of two years. "He was a very fine young man," Krizmanich said. "I would love to see him win." White's resignation letter requested that he be appointed as a Tampa police reserve officer. That didn't happen. -- Kathryn Wexler can be reached at wexler@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3383.
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