Master Corporal Brian LaVigne was killed when his patrol car was intentionally rammed by another vehicle during a response to a call for an EDP.
Deputies had responded to an apartment complex after a man started throwing furniture and clothing off his balcony. Then the man disrobed and started throwing food at neighbors and attacking responding deputies, striking one of them multiple times in the head. Attempts to subdue the subject with electric control weapons failed. The subject broke free, got into a car, and drove through a closed gate.
The man intentionally drove across multiple lanes of traffic and struck Corporal LaVigne’s patrol car on the driver’s door at a high rate of speed. Corporal LaVigne had to be extricated by rescue units. He was transported to Tampa General Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Corporal LaVigne had served with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office for thirty years and was killed the day before his last scheduled shift before retirement. He is survived by his wife and two children.