Published on Wednesday, January 17, 2007
in the Lakeland Ledger

FHP Sgt. Nick Sottile Praised in Wake of His Killing Last Week

Family, friends, fellow officers and dignitaries from across the state - nearly 2,000 people in all - came to the Restoration Church of the Highlands in Sebring on Tuesday to pay final respects to Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Nick Sottile, who was killed in the line of duty Friday afternoon.

As mourners filled the auditorium, an FHP honor guard kept vigil over Sottile's flag-draped coffin. Two men stood watch at a posting, replaced at regular intervals by other officers in a solemn ceremony.

As it neared 1 p.m., starting time of the funeral, the gathering had grown to standing-room only, with mourners three deep in the aisles. FHP troopers occupied three rows in the main auditorium.

Florida Highway Patrol Col. Christopher A. Knight presented the eulogy.

"We come together today to honor Nick. To his wife Elizabeth, his daughter Heather, his son Nick II, his father Philip, his siblings Jimmy, Raymond, and Debbie, the citizens of Highlands County, the state of Florida stands with you," Knight began.

"Those who knew him would agree that Nick stood tall," Knight said. "He was a special person. Whether you knew him or not, his smile could make you happy."

Knight recounted the numerous citations that adorn Sottile's record.

One letter tells of a dark night on a rural section of U.S. 27. Sottile, coming off a long duty shift, discovers a woman stranded with a broken-down car. Not the type to ever leave a woman in need, Sottile stayed with her for more than two hours until a tow truck arrived.

"He joked and made her feel safe the whole time," Knight said.

"The state, his friends and family will never forget the sacrifice he and the other 40 troopers who have died in the line of duty have made," Knight said.

"A golden heart stopped beating, a beautiful smile at rest, God broke our hearts to prove he only takes the best," Knight said.

Gov. Charlie Crist was flown by helicopter to the service along with members of his Cabinet.

"Everyone in law enforcement puts themselves in harm's way," Crist said. "On behalf of a thankful state we cannot thank you enough. God bless you."

Sgt. Wesley H. "Butch" Daum was joined at the podium by fellow troopers Cpl. Albert H. Middleton and Cpl. Edward J. Finneran.

"On Friday, Jan. 12, the world as we knew it stopped," Daum said.

"Nick was the type of person who would, whatever mood you were in or depression, smile and make you laugh," Daum said.

"He would do his job regardless of who you were," Daum said. "We are going to miss him, and he will always be with us."

With tears in his eyes and his voice breaking, the veteran trooper addressed Sottile's son, fellow Trooper Nick Sottile II.

"Nick, when he would talk about you his chest - and it was a big chest - would fill out," Daum said.

Law enforcement personnel, in silent procession, passed the casket before forming an honor wall surrounding the hearse that would carry the slain trooper's body to Oak Hill Cemetery in Lake Placid were he was laid to rest.

U.S. 27 was closed from Sebring to Lake Placid as a funeral procession more than nine miles long made its way to the cemetery.

Sottile, 48, was born Sept. 7, 1958, in Avon Park. He was a longtime resident of Lake Placid and graduated from Lake Placid High School. After graduation, he was accepted into the FHP academy in Tallahassee and graduated with the 68th recruitment class.

His first FHP assignment was in Miami. After a few years, he returned to Lake Placid where he was soon promoted and became a traffic homicide investigator. In 2003 he left Lake Placid for a promotion with the FHP in Tampa. He returned to Lake Placid one year later.

Sottile was killed Friday afternoon after making a traffic stop near Lake Placid. Joshua Lee Altersberger, 19, of Sebring, was arrested early Saturday following the largest manhunt in Highlands County history and charged with killing Sottile.

A passenger in the car Altersberger was driving, Quintin Jerome Kinder, 21, of Bainbridge, Ga., also was arrested.

Kinder told authorities he got out of the car and ran into a nearby orange grove after Altersberger said he was going to shoot the trooper.

Kinder was charged with trespassing in a citrus grove. Both men are being held in the Highlands County Jail.

Sottile was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Lake Placid. In his free time, he enjoyed hunting, fishing, gardening, and cooking.

He is survived by his wife Elizabeth (Carr) Sottile: son Nicholas II, of Tampa; daughter Heather, of Largo; father, Phillip, of Lake Placid; brother Jimmy, of Sebring; brother Raymond of Melbourne; and sister Debbie Paszek of Granite Falls, N.C.