Published on Sunday, January 14, 2007
in the Tampa Tribune

2 Men Arrested In Fatal Shooting Of Highway Patrol Sergeant

LAKE PLACID - Two men were arrested Saturday in the fatal shooting of Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Nicholas Sottile, authorities said.

Joshua Lee Altersberger, 19, was arrested at 4:30 a.m. at his home in Sebring. He faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of Sottile a day earlier during a traffic stop. He was being held without bail at the Highlands County Jail.

Quintin Jerome Kinder, 21, of Bainbridge, Ga., gave himself up to a search team at 6 a.m. He was charged with trespassing and also held at the Highlands jail. Bail was set at $10,000, but authorities were trying to get it changed to no bail, Highlands County sheriff's spokeswoman Lisa McGehee said.

Both men were arrested without incident, said Col. Christopher A. Knight of the highway patrol. He did not give a motive for the shooting and said it remains under investigation.

Authorities recovered a vehicle and a gun thought to have been used in the shooting.

Sottile, 48, stopped the car Friday afternoon after seeing it driving erratically on northbound U.S. 27 near Witmore Curve, south of State Road 66.

As Sottile approached the vehicle, Kinder, the passenger, got out and ran, patrol spokesman Ernie Duarte said. Sottile went back to his patrol car to call for backup and had begun walking toward the suspects' car when Altersberger shot him in the chest at 3:22 p.m. and fled, Duarte said.

Sottile was flown to Florida Hospital Lake Placid and pronounced dead.

His death was noted Saturday by Gov. Charlie Crist.

"My thoughts and prayers are with the family of Sgt. Nick Sottile and his fellow troopers," Crist said in a statement. "Our law enforcement officers put their lives on the line every day for the safety and security of our state, and I speak for all the Floridians in offering our deepest gratitude for their sacrifices."

About 200 law enforcement officers from surrounding agencies descended on the scene of the shooting Friday evening to search for the suspects. Officers from Polk County, where a sheriff's deputy died in the line of duty in September, poured into Highlands County to assist. Lake Placid is about 105 miles southeast of Tampa.

Helicopters and planes searched the orange groves on either side of the highway in regular search patterns. Officers and canine units also searched on foot.

Grim-faced officers comforted one another at the scene as crime scene investigators used metal detectors to search the ground for shell casings or other evidence around the patrol unit of the officer.

The last time a Florida Highway Patrol trooper was shot and killed was in May 1998 in Pasco County. James B. Crooks, 23, was attempting to apprehend a suspect who had just shot and killed two Tampa Police Department detectives. Crooks had been with highway patrol for nine months.