Joshua Altersberger is a black man who
has been on death row in the state of Florida since 06/15/09.
Crime
He was convicted of Premeditated 1st
Degree Murder, committed on 01/12/07.
Late in the morning of January 12, 2007, the [d]efendant drove to a
friend's home in Highlands County. Also at the home was Quentin Kinder,
who was in Florida to avoid arrest for violating his Georgia probation.
After drinking and playing videogames, Altersberger left the home with
Kinder. Kinder testified that, at this point, Altersberger was not so
affected by the alcohol that his speech was impaired but was “buzzing a
little bit.”Later that afternoon, around 3:00 p.m., Altersberger drove with Kinder to a restaurant in Lake Placid in an effort to meet a girl whom he believed to be working there. Upon learning that the girl was not at work, Altersberger drove with Kinder to a nearby convenience store so that he could buy a cigar. As Altersberger and Kinder were walking out of the store, the two noticed a deputy sheriff in a marked patrol car stopped at a red light. Kinder then heard Altersberger state, as though he was speaking to the deputy, “You better not stop me or I'm going to shoot you.”
Altersberger left the store with Kinder and drove north on Highway 27 out of Lake Placid. Altersberger's driving was aggressively erratic, and he swerved several times in and out of heavy afternoon traffic. At one point, Altersberger had to swerve in the midst of a lane change in order to avoid striking another car. This attracted the attention of Florida Highway Patrol Sergeant Nick Sottile who had been travelling in the opposite direction and who turned to pursue.
Kinder saw Sergeant Sottile turn around and notified Altersberger. Altersberger responded by saying that he was going “to push it,” or speed up to flee. Kinder told Altersberger not to try to flee and also said that, because of his Georgia probation violation, he was going to run from the car once Altersberger pulled over. As he was pulling over, Altersberger cut sharply from the left lane across the right lane, cutting off and nearly striking a semi truck. And, as Altersberger pulled off the roadway, he stated to Kinder that he was going to shoot Sergeant Sottile. Kinder told Altersberger not to shoot the officer, and then got out of the car and ran into a nearby orange grove.
Intending to complain to Sergeant Sottile about Altersberger's driving, the semi truck driver pulled over behind the trooper's patrol car. The truck driver then got out of his truck and walked toward Sergeant Sottile, who ordered him back to his truck. From the elevated cab of his semi truck, the driver was able to observe the events that followed.
Sergeant Sottile approached Altersberger's driver's side window with his hand resting on his gun. Altersberger raised his hands as Sottile approached and kept them raised while he spoke with Sottile for a short time. Sottile, appearing to be more comfortable with the situation, took his hand from his gun. After Sottile took his hand off his gun, Altersberger lowered his hands and pulled a gun. Sergeant Sottile raised his hands and started to back away from Altersberger's window when Altersberger shot him. Sergeant Sottile was hit near his left collar bone and fell backward to the ground. Altersberger then reached out the window of his car to aim his gun at Sergeant Sottile and tried several times to shoot him in the head, but his gun would not fire. Altersberger then rapidly drove away. Sergeant Sottile died shortly thereafter as a result of internal bleeding from the gunshot wound.
Address
You can write to this inmate
at:
Joshua Altersberger 131596
PO Box 23608Tampa, FL 33623
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