Colorado Man Who Caused Crash that Killed Officer Was Intoxicated
A man from Colorado that was driving down the wrong side of the road and ended up getting into a crash that not only took his own life but the life of a police officer as well was found to be intoxicated during the incident.
The man, 25-year-old Joshua Montague was in the process of moving from Golden, Colorado to Tampa, Florida had been in the city for less than 12 hours when the incident occurred.
In fact, Montague had been in Tampa for so little time that upon searching and inspecting his hotel room, authorities made note that his luggage hadn't even been unpacked yet.
The police officer that fell victim to the crash, 45-year-old Jesse Madsen had attempted to stop Montague, who was allegedly speeding in the Florida city at a rate of roughly 100 miles per hour. Reports say that Madsen was travelling at around 60 miles per hour, but the chase turned tragic as the engine of Montague's rental car was found on the side of the road following the collision and Madsen's police car was found in a ditch on its side.
Because of Madsen's heroic efforts, he will be posthumously receiving the Police Purple Shield, which is awarded to officers who receive serious injuries or die while on duty, as well as a Medal of Honor and a Gold Cross Award.
The Tampa Chief of Police, Brian Dugan had this to say about the incident and Madsen's bravery:
This is a person who served in the military, he was a Marine. To put it quite bluntly, he was a badass. If you ever got in trouble -- he's the guy you wanted, he's the guy who was going to answer the call and do whatever it took.
Despite both parties passing away as a result of the incident, police were able to conclude that Montague had been drinking based on the empty alcohol bottles they found in his hotel room.
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