A 21-year-old Harris County Sheriff's Office detention officer is facing a misdemeanor DWI charge after authorities say he crashed into a homeowner's fence in the Humble area early Sunday and fled. Deputies later followed a trail of liquid to a nearby home. Gerardo Segundo has worked for the sheriff's office for three years and has now been placed on administrative leave while his case moves through court.
The crash jolted homeowner Alfonso Pineda and his family awake at about 1:50 a.m. Sunday, according to ABC13 Houston. Pineda, who says he lives near Segundo, described the moments leading up to the impact in vivid detail: “It was getting really close, really loud. When the tire kept spinning, like 30 seconds later we heard boom, the biggest boom we could have heard.”
By the time Pineda made it outside, the driver was already gone — but the pickup truck had left behind a telling piece of evidence. A bumper remained at the scene, while deputies followed a trail of liquid to a home a few streets away. In Pineda's words, the driver likely “thought he could get away.”
Liquid Trail Leads Deputies to a Damaged Pickup
According to court records cited by the station's report, deputies with the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office followed a trail of liquid from the crash site to a nearby home, where they found a damaged pickup truck. Investigators then brought that pickup back to the crash scene to match its parts against the debris left behind, the same court records state.
When deputies located Segundo, he refused to take a field sobriety test. Court records noted he had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and an odor of alcohol. Segundo was charged with misdemeanor DWI, per the same account.
Fence Repair Could Run $3,000, Homeowner Says
Pineda estimated the damage to his fence at $3,000 and said the crash happened only a few feet from where he and his wife were sleeping on the other side of the wall. “It could have been a lot worse,” he said, reflecting on how close the impact came to their bedroom.
Pineda also said it would have been better if Segundo had simply stayed at the scene rather than fleeing, and he expressed surprise upon learning his neighbor's occupation, saying, “I did not know that.”
Separate Criminal Mischief Allegation Dismissed
A second charge, criminal mischief tied to allegations that the fence damage was intentional, was dismissed following a probable cause hearing after a magistrate found insufficient evidence to support it, the report notes. Online records listed no attorney of record for Segundo at the time of the report.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office confirmed that Segundo remains on leave pending his court proceedings. The case touches on several areas of Texas law, including the DWI statute under Texas Penal Code Section 49.04, the requirements for reporting a crash involving vehicle damage under Texas Transportation Code Section 550.022, and the criminal mischief statute, Texas Penal Code Section 28.03, under which the dismissed allegation against Segundo had been filed.
Cases involving law enforcement personnel and alleged drunk driving have surfaced elsewhere in Texas in recent weeks. A senior Texas Department of Criminal Justice officer was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and quit the job, according to KSAT. In Montgomery County, authorities say an intoxicated driver struck a deputy who was already on scene investigating another DWI suspect, a case detailed in a separate ABC13 report. And in Travis County, a woman faced two felony charges after allegedly striking a patrol vehicle while driving on the wrong side of the road, according to FOX 7 Austin.
