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 I275 at a high rate of speed and swerving through the lanes. Within a minute of the original call, the vehicle 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.
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, a 45-year-old married father of three, dedicated his life to the safety and service of others – as a United States Marine combat veteran and, for the past 16 ½ years, as a Tampa Police Officer. He is a seven time recipient of the Tampa Police Department's Life Saving Award.
Jesse was a guardian of this city. He will never be forgotten.