TAMPA, Fla. — Lawyers for the widow of a Tampa police officer who was killed after driving into the path of a wrong-way driver on I-275 last year have announced she is suing The Florida Department of Transportation.
Attorneys for the family of Officer Jesse Madsen say the state transportation agency failed to properly maintain the warning system designed to alert wrong-way drivers as they try to enter the highway.
Officer Madsen was killed in March of last year. He has been hailed as a hero for intentionally steering his police vehicle into the path of an oncoming wrong-way driver.
But attorneys for Madsen’s family suggest that the wreck should have never happened, pointing a finger of blame at FDOT and Transcore, the company that maintains its wrong-way detection system.
"This wasn’t an accident," said Madsen Family Attorney Steve Yerrid. “There’ll be a day of reckoning I promise you.”
Attorneys for Madsen’s widow Danyelle and the couple’s three children - say a series of failures to correct dangerous, unsafe conditions – contributed to Madsen’s death.
They say records show between January 2020 and February of last year there were five incidents involving wrong-way drivers at the I-275 interchange at Busch Boulevard. The intersection is the same spot where it’s believed wrong-way driver Joshua Montague, 25, entered the highway, leading up to the wreck that killed Madsen.
In those previous incidents, attorneys say, the alert system worked. But that in the days leading up to this crash they allege there were problems.
"I don’t know if this equipment was inadequate or adequate," said Yerrid. "But I do know it wasn’t working, so whatever it was when it was working has no relevance to what it was doing that night which was nothing,”
FDOT says it doesn’t comment on pending or potential litigation, but on the day Officer Madsen was killed, FDOT spokesperson Kris Carson confirmed the system had not issued an alert.
“There was not. In fact, we are going out today and we’re having our contractor check all of our devices at all of the ramps,” Carson said the day Madsen was killed.
Danyelle Madsen did not speak during Tuesday’s news conference announcing the lawsuit, but Yarrellys Ruiz did. Ruiz, also a mother of three, tearfully recounted Madsen’s heroics when he intentionally drove his police vehicle into Montague’s path. Saving her life and sacrificing his own.
“He did what he did because that was something he did for so many years was helping people and that was his duty,” said Ruiz. “And he did it and save my life. And saved the life of my children.”
Although attorneys say this case is about justice and protecting the public, there is still some question about how much money Mrs. Madsen may be able to recover.
In the state of Florida, government agencies are protected by sovereign immunity which limits the amount of damages that can be recovered to $200,000 against a single government agency or $300,000 if it involves multiple agencies.
But since FDOT had hired a private company in this case, Yerrid believes that amount could go higher.
“The system didn’t work. It never activated,” he said. “And someone is going to be held responsible.”