TAMPA, Florida – A Tampa police officer was killed in a traffic accident in the wrong direction.
According to Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan, the accident happened on the northern lanes just before 1 am on Interstate 275 near Hillsborough Avenue.
Jesse Madsen, a 45-year-old highly decorated officer who was a 16-year-old department veteran, was killed.
Interstate 275 is closed in both directions between E. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and E. Sligh Avenue.
What do you need to know
- TPD officer Jesse Madsen, 45, killed in an accident in the wrong direction
- TPD chief Brian Dugan said the accident happened at 1 am on Tuesday at I-275 near Hillsborough Avenue
- Madsen, a 16-year veteran in the TPD, was a husband, father of 4 children and a US marine.
Tampa police began receiving calls at 1 am about a white sedan driving south on the northbound lanes of I-275 at high speed and veering off the lanes.
A minute after the original call, the vehicle collided with Officer Madsen’s police vehicle between the Hillsborough and Sligh Avenue exits.
The impact killed both Ofc. Madsen and the 25-year-old driver of the white sedan. A police escort accompanied the Ofc. Madsen’s body for the examiner’s officer made on Tuesday.
Tampa police began receiving calls at 1 am about a white sedan driving south on the northbound lanes of I-275 at high speed and veering off the lanes. A minute after the original call, the vehicle collided with Officer Madsen’s police vehicle between the Hillsborough and Sligh Avenue exits. (Image from Spectrum News)
Madsen was a husband, father of four, and a marine. He was the winner of the Lifesaver Award seven times. He is the 32nd Tampa police officer to die in the line of duty.
“This is a tragedy,” said Dugan. “Our community has been shaken by these malicious drivers. And it is a complete tragedy that now a husband and father of four is gone.”
The accident is under investigation and I-275 can be closed until about 9 am