TAMPA, Florida – A Tampa police officer has been killed in a wrong traffic accident.
According to Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan, the crash happened on the northbound lanes just before 1 a.m. on Interstate 275 near Hillsborough Avenue.
Jesse Madsen, a heavily decorated 45-year-old officer who was a 16-year veteran of the department, was killed.
Interstate 275 is currently closed in both directions between E. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and E. Sligh Ave.
What you need to know
- TPD officer Jesse Madsen, 45, died in a mishap
- TPD chief Brian Dugan said the crash happened at 1 a.m. Tuesday on I-275 near Hillsborough Avenue
- Madsen, a 16-year TPD veteran, was a husband, father of 4, and a U.S. sailor.
Tampa police began receiving calls at one in the morning about a white sedan traveling south on the north-north lanes of I-275 at a high speed and turning in the lanes.
One minute after the original call, the vehicle crashed into Officer Madsen’s police vehicle, between the Hillsborough and Sligh Avenue exits.
The impact killed both Ofc. Madsen and the 25-year-old male driver of the white sedan. A police escort accompanied Ofc. Madsen’s body to the medical examiner’s officer early Tuesday.
Tampa police began receiving calls at 1 a.m. about a white sedan traveling south on the north-north lanes of I-275 at a high speed and deviating from 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 the husband and father of four children and a sailor. He won the Lifesaving Prize seven times. He is the 32nd Tampa police officer to die in the line of duty.
“This is a tragedy,” Dugan said. “Our community has been shaken by these wrong drivers. And it’s just a complete tragedy that a husband and a father of four have now disappeared.”
The crash is being investigated and I-275 may be closed until about 9 a.m.