Delray man shot, killed by trooper on I-95

The family of David Eric Ufferman, a Delray Beach man shot and killed by a state trooper on Interstate 95 over the weekend, offered some of the first details Tuesday of the night of the deadly encounter.

Ufferman for years used the painkiller oxycodone, which was prescribed to him to deal with injuries he sustained during construction work decades ago, his brother said. But the pills made him feel sleepy and not fully alert, so he recently got rid of them, Ufferman told his brother and mother.

On the night a trooper shot him, Ufferman had decided to go for a walk to clear his head, his family said. The lack of medication may have prompted him to take the walk, which his family said was uncharacteristic of him. “My brother was brilliant when his mind was all there,” Ufferman’s brother, Michael Ufferman, said Tuesday. “He was extraordinarily capable when the medication wasn’t affecting him.”

Authorities are releasing few details about what led a Florida Highway Patrol trooper to kill Ufferman early Sunday. It was about 1:10 a.m. when the trooper was dispatched to a report of a man seen walking on Interstate 95 near Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach.

Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Mark Wysocky said that when the trooper arrived, a physical altercation ensued between Ufferman, 56, and the trooper. The trooper fired his Taser to subdue Ufferman, but it didn’t work, the Highway Patrol said. Ufferman “was subsequently shot,” Wysocky said.

Wysocky said he didn’t have information about why the stun gun was ineffective. Ufferman was taken to Delray Medical Center, where he died. The trooper, whose name hasn’t been released, was put on administrative leave with pay.

Michael Ufferman said his brother suffered a broken back in a work-related fall in the 1980s, which led him to rely on the prescribed painkillers that were highly addictive. Over the years, he underwent spinal surgeries, neck surgery and most recently, surgery on his wrist, his brother said.

Court records show David Ufferman in 2013 pleaded guilty to a DUI crash in which he struck a pedestrian outside a supermarket near West Palm Beach. Ufferman declined to undergo drug tests during his arrest but acknowledged to the officer he was on painkillers, his arrest report shows.

Despite his condition, David Ufferman still would help others, Michael Ufferman said.

“You’d see him doing things for people,” Ufferman said. “He’d go out to the pier in Boynton and go fishing and everything he’d catch, he’d give to the homeless people that were out there.”

As is procedure, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will look into “whether a crime was committed by law enforcement when they used the force,” spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said. FDLE’s findings will be provided to the prosecutors’ office to determine whether charges will be filed.

Michael Ufferman questioned whether his brother’s state of mind and recent wrist surgery figured into the deadly encounter. “If the officer tried to reach for my brother’s arm, he’s just had surgery on it and my brother would recoil,” Ufferman said.

His brother was wearing a heavy leather jacket that night, so it may be that stungun pins didn’t penetrate his clothing, Ufferman said.

“My brother fearing for his life — and the officer fearing for his life — I can see where there is a lack of understanding and the officer shot him,” Ufferman said.

Ufferman