Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo gave a stirring tribute on ABC’s “This Week” to police Sgt. Steve Perez, a 30-year veteran of the Houston Police Department who was killed during operations related to Hurricane Harvey.
Perez died Aug. 20 after his patrol car succumbed to rising waters on Interstate-45. Acevedo said Perez reiterated his commitment to public safety in his final conversation with his wife.
WATCH:
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo gives stirring remembrance of Sgt. Steve Perez, a 34-year veteran killed in #Harvey flooding. #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/pXNHDKPpvs
— ABC News (@ABC) September 3, 2017
“The look in my diver’s faces when we tried to recover one of our own whom we knew was in that muddy water…the pain in their eyes when I told them ‘We can’t risk another life,’” he said, his voice trailing off.
“But you know what made up for that the next day?” he added. “When I told Perez’s wife ‘If Steve knew this was his last day on earth, how would he have wanted to go? Here with you or answering the call?’”
“The last thing he said to me was ‘We’ve got work to do,’” Mrs. Perez replied.
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