Houston Police Sgt. Steve Perez drowns in Harvey floodwaters
HPD
Sgt. Steve Perez was a 34-year veteran of the Houston Police Department.
His wife warned Sgt. Steve Perez not to go. He insisted.
The 34-year-veteran Houston police officer drowned in his patrol car in Harvey floodwaters, a tearful Chief Art Acevedo said Tuesday afternoon.
Perez, days shy of his 61st birthday, was in his patrol car driving to work downtown Sunday morning when he got trapped in high water.
Acevedo said Perez left home at 4 a.m. and spent more than two hours trying to get to his duty station in downtown Houston. When he could not find a path, he followed department protocol and tried to report to the nearest station, in Kingwood.
When he did not arrive for regular roll call Monday, officers called his wife, who said she had not seen him since Sunday. They narrowed their search to the Hardy Tollway and Beltway 8, Acevedo said.
Acevedo, with tears in his eyes, said officers believed they had found Perez on Monday night but could not recover his body.
