TAMPA, Fla. – A police officer intentionally veered his SUV into the path of a wrong-way driver to keep him from hitting others on Interstate 275 in Tampa, police and eyewitness accounts say. Master Patrol Officer Jesse Madsen, 45, and Daniel Joshua Montague, 25, of Golden, Colorado, were killed in the crash early Tuesday morning, Tampa police Chief Brian Dugan said during a Thursday news conference. Madsen, who was on patrol, was traveling at about 65 mph (104 kph) when the crash occurred. “Officer Madsen is a true American hero,” Dugan said. Montague was moving to Tampa and had been in the city for less than 12 hours, Dugan said.

TAMPA, Fla. – A Tampa police officer was struck and killed early Tuesday by a wrong-way driver on Interstate 275, according to authorities. AdJesse Madsen was Tampa Police Department officer for more than 16 years. Police said it’s not yet known why the driver was traveling the wrong way or where he entered the interstate. Madsen, seven-time recipient of the Tampa Police Department’s Life Saving Award, leaves behind a wife and three children. @FLCaseyDeSantis and I are heartbroken by the death of @TampaPD Officer Jesse Madsen who was tragically killed in the line of duty.