Published on Wednesday, January 17, 2007
in the Highlands Today

Community Mourns Slain Officer

SEBRING - More than 2,500 people, including Florida's governor, gathered Tuesday afternoon to remember fallen Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Nicholas Sottile Sr.

Several hundred highway patrol troopers took part in the service. As the flag-draped casket was loaded into the hearse, troopers stood at attention, united in a Wall of Honor.

"It's a sign of honor that everyone bestows on the fallen officer for giving his life," highway patrol Lt. Doug Dodson said.

Sottile, a 24-year veteran of the patrol, was shot Friday during a traffic stop outside Lake Placid. The 48-year-old sergeant died late that afternoon at Florida Hospital Lake Placid.

About 2,000 law enforcement personnel from across the country attended the funeral at Restoration Church of the Highlands.

During the funeral, Gov. Charlie Crist thanked Sottile and all law enforcement officers for their service.

"Every day, Florida law enforcement officers put themselves in harm's way and put their lives on the line for us," Crist said. "On behalf of citizens in the state of Florida, I thank you for this and for making our lives more secure and safe. … We are forever indebted to you."

Highway patrol Sgt. Wesley Daum, who worked with Sottile, said he is still trying to cope with the death of his colleague.

"Friday, the world as we know it stopped, and it's almost like we are in a fog now," Daum said. "We are going to get through with the help of the people here who know and love Nick."

A native of Avon Park, Sottile was raised in Lake Placid and graduated from Lake Placid High School. He started his career working for the patrol in Miami but spent most of his years with Troop F, which has its headquarters in Arcadia.

"In this small, tight-knit community, the troopers and their families spend a lot of time together," said Col. Christopher Knight, the highway patrol director. "This loss creates a void that we aren't yet sure how to fill."

Sottile is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; daughter, Heather, 19; and son, Nicholas II, 22, who is a trooper in the Tampa area.

Cpl. Ed Finneran, who worked with Sottile most of his career, said the sergeant was proud of his family.

"One legacy he left behind was his family, and he produced another trooper," Finneran said. "His family was No. 1 to him. He was a very devoted husband and father. I wish I could leave behind a legacy like that."

The Rev. Raymond Cameron, a friend of Sottile, said Sottile was a passionate person and faithful Christian.

"Nick Sottile loved life and he embraced life, and he called others along to embrace it with him," Cameron said. "If you had Nick Sottile as a friend, you had a true friend."

Cameron held up a bright orange T-shirt Sottile bought on a trip their families took together to Fields of the Wood in North Carolina, which seemed to sum up his feelings about his friend.

"Live your life so the preacher won't have to lie at your funeral," the bright orange T-shirt read.

Dennis Hallion, president of the National Troopers Coalition, flew from New Jersey to attend the funeral.

"Any time a trooper dies, it takes a little piece of all of us," Hallion said. "The best thing we can do is be there and show the family we care, even as far away as New Jersey. He made the ultimate sacrifice out there enforcing the law and interacting with the community, and we all know that any day, it could be one of us."