About 3:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 12, 2016, Deputy Sheriff John Kotfila was killed in a head-on collision with a vehicle that was being driven in the wrong direction on the Selmon Expressway, at the Brandon Express exit near I-75.
Deputy Kotfila, aged 30, was returning to the station after investigating an unrelated traffic accident, however a drunk driver entered the expressway heading west in the eastbound lanes and caused the head-on collision.
According to ABC News, “a woman who allegedly barely avoided [the] head-on collision… believes that [Deputy Kotfila], who died in the highway crash, put his life on the line to save her.”
The drunk driver died at the scene. Deputy Kotfila was transported to Tampa General Hospital where he later died.
Deputy Kotfila had served with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office for six years. He was survived by his parents, sister, and two brothers. His father, one brother, and both of his grandfathers served in law enforcement in Massachusetts.
In a video report at the same ABC News page, Deputy Cale Parsons said of John Kotfila: “He was our little brother. He was a little brother you couldn’t help but love. There’s nothing about him that you disliked…”
SOURCES:
- ODMP
- ABC News
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