TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Police Department is remembering two officers who were killed during a traffic stop back on June 29, 2010.
Officer David Curtis and Officer Jeffrey Kocab were shot and killed while trying to arrest Dontae Morris. Police said in a Facebook post, Curtis called for backup after pulling over Morris.
When Kocab arrived, both officers approached the vehicle before they were shot. A nearby citizen called in the shooting to report that both officers had been shot. Both officers were later pronounced dead. They were both 31 years old at the time of their deaths.
Morris is currently on death row for killing the two officers a month after murdering Derek Anderson. He was originally sentenced to death for Anderson's murder until a 2018 Florida Supreme Court decision vacated the sentencing.
The state's Supreme Court referenced the U.S. Supreme Court Case's ruling in Hurst vs. Florida for their decision. In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that death sentences required a unanimous jury. In Morris' case, it was decided that the jury's role was limited and unconstitutional.
Morris' first-degree murder conviction was upheld, but it was ruled that he must be resentenced. A ruling in 2021 determined Morris would again serve a death sentence for murdering 20-year-old Derek Anderson on May 18, 2010.
Prosecutors said that Morris and Anderson had an argument on a basketball court after Morris learned Anderson was selling pot in the neighborhood which Morris considered his personal turf.
A month later, Morris killed Tampa police officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab during a traffic stop.
