A Montgomery County sheriff’s deputy was injured early Saturday when a passing vehicle slammed into his marked patrol car on I-45 and kept going, according to authorities. The deputy was preparing to step out of his vehicle, emergency lights activated, while investigating a suspected impaired driver in the 14000 block of the freeway when the crash happened.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said the passing vehicle struck the patrol car before the driver fled the scene and failed to stop and render aid, according to woodlandsonline.com. The deputy was taken to an area hospital for treatment and has since been released, per the same account. Investigators did not let the hit-and-run slow them down for long.
Deputies Track Down the Car at a Registered Address
Investigators tracked down the vehicle involved at its registered address and found damage consistent with the collision, according to the sheriff's office. That evidence, combined with other findings, pointed to 33-year-old Elizabeth Perez as the driver who struck the patrol car, the sheriff's office said. Perez was subsequently arrested on felony failure to stop and render aid, along with passing an emergency vehicle causing bodily injury and driving while intoxicated, per the same report.
The driver originally stopped in the impaired-driving investigation that preceded the crash did not escape consequences either. Jacob Zamora, the 24-year-old driver pulled over in that original stop, was also arrested for driving while intoxicated. Both Perez and Zamora were booked into the Montgomery County Jail, according to the sheriff's office.
A Law Meant to Keep Roadside Crews Safe
Texas's Move Over or Slow Down law requires motorists approaching a stopped emergency vehicle with its lights on to move out of the nearest lane when it is safe to do so. If moving over isn't possible, drivers must slow to at least 20 mph below the posted speed limit, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. The rule applies not just to law enforcement but also to tow trucks, utility crews, waste trucks and other roadside responders with activated overhead lights.
Montgomery County Sheriff Wesley Doolittle renewed his call for drivers to give roadside responders space, and the sheriff's office cited the line-of-duty death of Deputy Erika Serrato earlier this year as it underscored how dangerous roadside work has become. Serrato was struck and killed by a commercial truck on June 28 while directing traffic at a suspected DWI crash scene near the Woodlands Parkway exit on I-45, according to the Houston Chronicle. The sheriff's office said the latest crash highlights the dangers deputies face while working on roadways.
Part of a Troubling Pattern Statewide
Saturday's incident is far from isolated. Just days apart this summer, a Kaufman County deputy and a Dallas police officer were nearly hit by vehicles while working traffic incidents, as reported by NBC DFW. The Officer Down Memorial Page has tracked more than 100 Texas law enforcement officers struck and killed in traffic-related incidents across the state, the station noted.
Similar hit-and-run crashes have struck elsewhere in Texas this year. A driver allegedly struck a Hays County sheriff's patrol vehicle during a traffic stop on I-35 and then fled the scene, according to CBS Austin. Video released by that sheriff's office showed the driver hitting the patrol vehicle and nearly striking both the deputy and the vehicle that had been pulled over, though deputies in that case tracked down the driver quickly with help from nearby San Marcos police officers.
