TAMPA (WFLA) – Tampa Police Officer Jesse Madsen’s colleagues lined the road and saluted as his body was escorted to the medical examiner’s office.

His death is a major loss for the Tampa Police Department and will be remembered by friends and officers alike.

“There isn’t a person that walks through the door that isn’t telling a Jesse story right now about how much they admired and loved him,” Danny Alvarez with the Tampa Police Benevolent Association said.

Alvarez says officer Madsen was everything you’d want in a public servant.

“He served in the Marine Corps. He served overseas. He’s a decorated combat veteran. He also served in the Florida national guard. He served with three police units until he settled here at the Tampa Police Department. So service was nothing new to him,” Alvarez said.

Officer Madsen put his life on the line several times saving others from medical calls to domestic violence.

While assisting on a shooting call at the Tampa nightclub Hollywood Nights back in 2012, the former Marine used his own Quik clot combat gauze to save the victim from bleeding out.

On Tuesday morning, Madsen made the ultimate sacrifice,after he veered into oncoming traffic, likely to save other motorists from a wrong-way driver on Interstate 275. 

“The realization that one of their good friends is gone and one of those people they admired and looked forward to.. he’ll never answer the phone, never text back.. they just talked to him yesterday and now they’re trying to make sense of this tragedy,” Alvarez said.

Madsen leaves behind three children – two boys, ages 16 and 12, and a 10-year-old daughter. He is the 32nd Tampa Police Department Officer to be killed in the line of duty.

The Tampa Police Benevolent Association is raising funds on behalf of officer Madsen’s family. Those interested in donating to Madsen’s family can do so at the association’s website and ask you put Officer Madsen Fund in the notes as you process your donation.

Memorial T-shirts will also be available for purchase next week and will be available for pickup at the Tampa PBA office.

Madsen, 45, was a US Marine who had worked for the Tampa Police Department for 16 years. He was a highly-decorated officer with seven life-saving awards.