TAMPA (KKTV) - A Florida police officer made the ultimate sacrifice to save others this week.
The Tampa police chief says Master Patrol Officer Jesse Madsen purposely veered into a wrong-way driver from Colorado Tuesday night along I-275 to protect everyone else on the highway in the area. The wrong-way driver was identified as 25-year-old Daniel Joshua Montague from Golden. Police say Montague was driving more than 100 mph and was likely intoxicated at the time of the crash early Tuesday morning. Both Madsen and Montague died at the scene.
The chief called Madsen an “American hero.” Investigators say Montague had just arrived in Tampa.
A vigil was held for Madsen Thursday night.
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Rigsog on March 12nd, 2021 at 14:27 UTC »
This happened in the Tampa area where I’m from. This specific interstate highway has A LOT of wrong way drivers. The road was designed where the left turn to get onto the interstate only has a small divider between the on ramp and off ramp for cars coming off the interstate. Many of the exits in this stretch of road are like this. It goes through the more populated part of the city so there are many exits. It’s so bad that they have wrong way driver detection systems at all the exits. They found that one of the detections systems was down at one exit that night so they assume the wrong way driver entered at that exit as none of the other detectors were activated.
Wipe_face_off_head on March 12nd, 2021 at 13:56 UTC »
We get a TON of wrong way drivers down here in Florida, especially on I-4 (which is already scary af to drive on sometimes). I feel like I read at least a couple wrong way drivers stories each year.
oktodls12 on March 12nd, 2021 at 13:44 UTC »
Unfortinately, unless the infrastructure is already set in place to stop a wrong way driver, there isn't much that can be done if the driver is drunk and moreso if they are going 100 MPH. This cop is a hero and deserves to be commended for his service.
Some safety tips for other drivers:
-Most wrong way driving incidents happen between midnight and 6 am.
-During this time, stay out of the far left lane. It's not uncommon for a drunk driver to be thinking that they are good and still "drive on the right side of the road"; for oncoming traffic, this is the left lane.
-Pay attention to people braking ahead of you and whether they are taking evasive action
-If a wrong way driver is headed towards you, and you are unable to get over because a car is in the adjacent lane, take that car out to get yourself over. A side swipe accident is better than a head on collision.
-Pay attention to signage and act accordingly. Some freeways are equipped with a wrong way detection systems that will automatically alert oncoming traffic that a wrong way driver has entered the roadway. If you see this message, proceed with extreme caution and exit immediately.