Duty Death: John Robert Kotfila Jr. - [Selmon]
End of Service: 12/03/2016
Tampa Tribune
TAMPA Fla. — A horrific head-on crash early Saturday morning on the elevated portion of the Selmon Expressway killed a 30-year-old Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputy and a driver he,ading the wrong way on the highway.
It was the most recent in a string of tragedies caused by motorists getting onto interstates and expressways and heading into oncoming traffic.
Killed in the wreck that left both vehicles mangled and strewn across the pavement was sheriff’s Deputy John Robert Kotfila Jr., a six-year veteran of the department who was a traffic-crash investigator for the patrol division in District 4, which covers the south portion of the county.
Erik Thomas McBeth was identified as the other driver killed in the wreck. He was 31 and lived in Hudson.
Kotfila comes from a long line of law enforcement officers, said his father, John Robert Kotfila Sr., from his home in Falmouth, Massachusetts, on Saturday afternoon.
“Both his grandfathers were in law enforcement,” Kotfila Sr. said. The grandfather on the mother’s side was a lieutenant with the Massachusetts State Police and his paternal grandfather was a Holyoke, Massachusetts, police officer.
Kotfila Sr., himself is a sergeant with the Massachusetts State Police, and Kotfila Jr.’s uncle is a deputy in Pinellas County.
Kotfila Jr.’s brother is a Falmouth police officer.
The father said he tried to talk his son out of a career in law enforcement but there was no way he could do it.
“He loved it,” the father said. “When he set his mind on something ...”
A graduate of Westfield State College, Kotfila Jr. wanted to move to Florida where his uncle and grandparents lived, and get a law enforcement job. He soon set his sights on Hillsborough County, his father said.
“He’s very driven and meticulous,” Kotfila Sr. said. “He researched all the sheriffs’ departments and settled on the Hillsborough department as being the best one ... because of the reputation and the way they did things.
“And he loved the job.”
The father paused.
“HCSO lost a good one,” he said. “The state of Florida lost a good cop. He was a good kid.
“I couldn’t have been prouder of him.”
Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said this:
“Our HCSO family is one less today. The tragic loss of one of my deputies has all of our hearts heavy. The most dreaded part of being sheriff of Hillsborough County, is getting the news that a deputy has lost his or her life in the line of duty.”
McBeth was heading west on the elevated highway, which at the time was dedicated for eastbound traffic, and slammed head-on into the marked 2013 Dodge Charger driven by Kotfila. McBeth died at the scene, deputies said.
Kotfila was rushed to Tampa General Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
The wreck occurred at 2:45 a.m. on the expressway just west of the Interstate 75 overpass near Westfield Brandon Town Center.
Kotfila was well respected among his fellow deputies and was involved in a number of projects at the department, said sheriff’s spokesman Larry McKinnon, including being the founding member of the SafetyNet Team, which helps find missing adults and children with special needs.
“He had a great sense of humor and was a very compassionate person,” McKinnon said. Last year, Kotfila was called on to climb down into a storm drain to rescue a kitten. The incident made the newspapers and evening newscasts, with a photograph of the deputy holding the tiny, frightened animal.
“He didn’t hesitate to climb down into that storm drain,” McKinnon said.
Kotfila was single with no children. He had a German shepherd named Dexter, who will move in with the fallen deputy’s parents in Massachusetts.
“He was just a very well-liked guy in the office,” McKinnon said. “A lot the guys here are taking it pretty hard.”
Kotfila’s goal was to be a traffic-homicide investigator, McKinnon said, and he was on that path with his current assignment as traffic-accident investigator.
“He’s only been here six years and he’s only 30 years old,” McKinnon said. “He was really an up-and-coming deputy; well rounded, a very smart deputy.
“His motivation and desire,” McKinnon said, “was just to help people.”
The only way McBeth could have gotten onto the expressway was at its eastern terminus, McKinnon said.
Gates were down across the entrance ramp, denying access to westbound traffic. The exit ramp for eastbound traffic is next to the gated entrance ramp, allowing eastbound traffic to get off the highway. McBeth drove up that ramp, ignoring or not seeing the “Do Not Enter” electronic sign overhead and “Wrong Way” signs posted on the shoulder.
Sheriff’s 911 operators received a call right at 2:45 a.m. Saturday about the wrong-way driver heading west on the elevated highway and, McKinnon said, moments after the call, sheriff’s dispatchers began alerting the different districts about the errant motorist. It was unknown if Kotfila heard the alert or if it was broadcast too late.
McBeth was driving a 2013 White GMC Terrain sport-utility vehicle when he struck Kotfila, who just had left Tampa General Hospital following a traffic-crash investigation and was returning to his district when the vehicles collided head on.
“This is a loss not only to HCSO,” said sheriff’s Col. Greg Brown, who commands the patrol division, “but to all the law enforcement officers who are trying to do their job and get home alive.”
Deputies said the investigation is ongoing, McKinnon said, and conclusions of toxicology tests, which can determine if alcohol or drugs played a part in a wreck, typically take about six weeks.
Tommy Levitt, who lived next door to Kotfila in a wooded neighborhood in Valrico, described the deputy as a good man who has cared for him in times of need.
“He was the nicest young man,” Levitt said. “He’d do anything for anybody.”
The two had been neighbors for several years.
Kotfila lived a quiet life, his neighbor said. He loved fishing and looking after his dog. When tree limbs fell onto the road in their neighborhood, Kotfila pulled them off the pavement and chopped them up for firewood, Levitt said, placing the logs near Levitt’s bonfire pit.
Levitt said he has been in and out of the hospital recently and Kotfila always checked on him to see how he was doing.
“You couldn’t ask for a more compassionate, dedicated person,” Levitt said, “than John.”
Throughout the day, messages of public condolences were made, including one from Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who issued this statement on his Twitter account:
“Prayers go out to the family of the Hillsborough County deputy sheriff killed last night by a wrong way driver. RIP.”
Hillsborough County Commission Chairman Les Miller sent out this statement Saturday:
“Hillsborough County has suffered a tragedy today with the loss of Deputy John Robert Kotfila Jr. of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. It is unfortunate that anyone has to experience the grief and pain from a fatal traffic incident, but especially for our law enforcement officers who dedicate their lives to keeping each of us safe.
“On behalf of all of the citizens of Hillsborough County,” Miller said, “I offer condolences and prayers to Deputy Kotfila’s family and the family of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.”
Wrong-way crashes have spiked in the past three years, with two occurring in the past month. On March 5, a Riverview man was killed and three other people injured in a wrong-way crash on U.S. 301; and on Feb. 12, a wrong-way, head-on wreck killed two motorists on the Ashley Drive exit ramp near downtown Tampa.
State highway safety officials say that from 2010 to 2013, a total of 19 wrong-way crashes were reported in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties. That number spiked in 2014 with 12 such crashes, including a fiery wreck on Interstate 275 near Busch Boulevard that killed four University of South Florida fraternity brothers and the driver who ran into them.
The numbers jumped even more during the first seven months of 2015, when the region recorded 14 wrong-way crashes.
Since then, though, the numbers have dropped, as the Florida Department of Transportation began bolstering its warning systems at key interstate exit ramps with additional “Do Not Enter” and “Wrong Way” signs, and flashing lights that activate when a vehicle heads up an exit ramp.
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