Sign The Guest Book For Nick Sottile

LAKE PLACID – Sgt. Nick Sottile was remembered Saturday as a super trooper, caring man and a fantastic cook by those who knew him.

The Florida Highway Patrol officer was shot Friday afternoon after reportedly pulling over a Toyota Camry on U.S. 27 north of Lake Placid. He died later at Florida Hospital Lake Placid.

His brother, Jimmy Sottile, said Highlands County Sheriff Susan Benton called him Saturday morning to report that the two suspects law enforcement officers were searching for had been apprehended.

“It is terrible that some 19-year-old punk made my brother a hero,” Sottile said, adding that he was glad no one else was hurt. “My dad is 73 years old and he didn’t want to outlive his kids.

“This is a real tragedy and is a loss to the whole community,” he said. “We have been here our whole lives.
“By the grace of God we will get through this; we’re a very close family.”

Born in Avon Park, Nick Sottile was raised in Lake Placid and graduated from Lake Placid High School, his brother said. Nick worked briefly after high school before joining the FHP.

“He worked in Miami and survived Miami only to be killed in his hometown,” Jimmy Sottile said.

Nick was a 24-year veteran of the patrol, and could have retired in a year if he chose to do so, according to Florida Highway Patrol Director Col. Christopher A. Knight.

Knight said the best way to describe Sottile was as a “super trooper.”

“He was a friend to all of us,” he said. “He was an excellent man.”

“He just loved what he did and didn’t shirk his responsibility,” Jimmy Sottile said. “He took his job very seriously; he earned his money.”

In his spare time, Nick loved to cook for people and “was a fantastic cook,” Jimmy Sottile said. He also enjoyed hunting.
Sottile is also survived by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter Heather and son Nicholas II, also a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, Knight said.

Elizabeth is the girls soccer coach at Lake Placid High School.

“I knew her husband and taught both of her kids,” said Cindy Rivers, Lake Placid’s athletic director. “Actually, I went to school with her and her brother and … what do you say? What do you say? What do you do? Obviously, the whole school, faculty and staff will be there in any capacity that she needs. You don’t know what to say. You don’t know what to do.”

Joe Seelig and Kevin Carlson of Highlands Today contributed to this story.