Just Seconds Before Fatal Crash Something Intervened That Was Found At Scene
By Timfly
Sarah Geren was returning home from work with her boyfriend early Saturday morning when she saw Erik McBeth, 31, barreling towards her. With just seconds from crashing head on, something suddenly appeared, saving their lives. They would find out what it was later at the scene...
Fatal Crash Scene. Sarah Geren with unidentified males
Geren told WFLA that everything happened so quickly. In what seemed like a split second, the oncoming driver, identified as 31-year-old Erik McBeth, was suddenly in their lane, traveling in the wrong direction and heading straight for them.
“As I realized the car was coming towards me faster and I started flashing my lights at him crazily, like a strobe light. I couldn’t think of any other way to say ‘Stop driving towards me!” Instead of McBeth changing course, he accelerated.
The couple frantically tried pulling over to the side of the road to get away from this man’s path of death and that's when it happened.
A flash of white came around their car and got in front of them. It was the patrol car of 30-year-old Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Deputy John Robert Kotfila Jr., who saw what was certain death and made a decision.
“I started to pull over to the side of the road, but that hadn’t even occurred all the way when the officer rushed around me… one or two seconds after he passed me, he hit the car, instead of me,” said Geren.
She is sure HCSO Deputy John Robert Kotfila Jr. made the ultimate sacrifice and intentionally crashed into the vehicle, taking the hit and saving her life.
Deputy John Robert Kotfila Jr. (left), Deputy Kotfila (right, center)
Kotfila acted as a human shield for this couple, who he never had a chance to meet and never will. He died at the scene after taking the impact so that these two strangers didn’t, all out of complete selflessness.
“He definitely saw what was going on,” Geren recalled of those crucial seconds, explaining that what this hero cop did was definitely an intentional act. “When I take a step back and look at the way everything occurred, he absolutely was a human shield for us.”
She will always remember HCSO Deputy Kotfila as her hero, as his colleagues at the sheriff’s office remember him as a friend with an infectious smile.
“John was selected because of his attitude. He was a well-rounded person that you wanted to be around,” said HCSO Sgt. Jeffery Massaro.
Wrong-way driver Erik McBeth died in the crash. Investigators are awaiting the results of toxicology test that will reveal if McBeth was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
There is nothing more selfless one could do for another, than to lay their life down for a stranger. Kotfila is an amazing example of the type of person who is brave enough to badge up every day and accept the call of duty.
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