MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas – A Montgomery County deputy was hurt when a passing driver struck his patrol vehicle on I-45 and drove away, authorities said. The deputy was treated at a hospital and later released.
The crash happened early Saturday in the 14000 block of I-45, where deputies were investigating a suspected impaired driver. A second deputy had arrived in a marked patrol vehicle with its emergency lights on. He was beginning to get out when the passing vehicle hit the patrol car, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators tracked down the vehicle at its registered address, where they found damage they said was consistent with the collision. The sheriff’s office identified the owner, 33-year-old Elizabeth Perez, as the suspected driver.
Perez was arrested on charges of felony failure to stop and render aid, passing an emergency vehicle and causing bodily injury, and driving while intoxicated. The driver who had been stopped before the crash, 24-year-old Jacob Zamora, was also arrested on a DWI charge. Both were booked into the Montgomery County Jail.
The incident renewed Sheriff Wesley Doolittle’s call for drivers to give roadside responders space. Under Texas’ Move Over or Slow Down law, motorists approaching a stopped emergency vehicle with its lights on must move out of the nearest lane when safe. If they cannot, they must slow to 20 mph below the posted speed limit.
The sheriff’s office also pointed to Deputy Erika Serrato’s line-of-duty death earlier this year, saying the latest crash highlights the dangers deputies face while working on roadways.
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