TAMPA, Fla. – Master Patrol Officer Jesse Madsen was killed early Tuesday morning when his police vehicle was struck by a wrong-way driver on Interstate 275.
Just before 1:00 AM on Tuesday morning, Tampa Police began receiving calls about a white vehicle driving southbound in the northbound lanes of I-275 at a high rate of speed and swerving through the lanes.
Within one minute of the original call, the white sedan crashed into Officer Madsen’s police vehicle between the Hillsborough and Sligh Avenue exits. The impact killed both Jesse and the driver of the white sedan, who has been identified as 25-year-old Joshua Daniel Montague, of Golden, Colorado.
It is early in the investigation and currently undetermined as to why and where the driver entered the interstate in the wrong direction of travel.
Jesse Madsen, 45, has a wife and three children: a 16-year-old son, a 12-year-old son, and a 10-year-old daughter. He dedicated his life to the safety and service of others – first as a United States Marine combat veteran, then as a Police Officer in Lyndhurst, Ohio for two-and-one-half years, and additional two-and-one-half years as a Police Officer in Shaker Heights Ohio.
For the past 16 and a half years, Jesse has served proudly as a Tampa Police Officer. Jesse was a seven-time recipient of the Tampa Police Department’s Life-Saving Award.
“Jesse’s badge, number 507, will be retired and his name will be etched for eternity into the Tampa Police Fallen Officers Memorial. He is the 32nd Tampa Police Officer to make the ultimate sacrifice,” said Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan.
The Tampa Police Department will go into a seven-day period of mourning. Jesse was a guardian of this city. He will never be forgotten.
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