HOUSTON – Former Missouri City police officer Stephen Alan Cook, 45, has been arrested for hitting and killing a registered nurse, who was also a mother and grandmother, Saturday while driving drunk, according to police.
The 62-year-old woman was helping her stepdaughter, 30, and children fill the empty gas tank of her stalled vehicle around 8 p.m. after they ran out of gas and stopped in the area of of the 10900 block of 59 Southwest Freeway near Belfort Street.
The stepdaughter called her stepmother and asked her to bring some gas.
Police said the stepmother pulled up her Nissan behind the stepdaughter's Nissan, and the whole family stood between the two cars as they were fueling up the car.
Cook was inbound on the 59 Southwest Freeway in a Mercury Grand Marquis when he clipped a white van and smashed into the back of the stepmother's Nissan, according to authorities.
When the Mercury hit the Nissan, it slammed forward into her stepdaughter's car, crushing the stepmother, who was caught between the two cars, police said.
The stepdaughter and her 15-year-old daughter were both struck as well, but her 9-year-old son managed to jump out of the way, authorities said.
All family members were taken to the hospital, where the stepmother died, according to officials.
The mother of the two children is in serious condition, but is expected to live. The 15-year-old girl was being treated for minor injuries, according to officials.
"My sister did not deserve that by a drunk driver," Brown's sister, Kaye Harper, said. "When the incident happened, she ended up falling on top of her grandaughter and her grandaughter said: 'Grammy are you OK?' and she said: 'Grammy is OK, Grammy is OK, until she couldn't say anything else. If he was a formal police officer he should know better he shouldn't drink drive -- nobody should drink and drive. At some point we're going to have to enforce the rule of the law to make sure these drunk drivers can't continue to be on the road."
Cook was treated for minor injuries, then arrested and charged with intoxication manslaughter, police said.
The driver of the van was not hurt.
Cook is charged with intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle and two charges of intoxication assault with a vehicle, according to court documents.
He was convicted in 2012 of driving while intoxicated in Fort Bend County.
Cook is set to appear in court on Monday morning.