Sarge wanted to save lives

VETERAN HOUSTON police Sgt. Steve Perez was hellbent on doing his job amid the perils of Tropical Storm Harvey — and it killed him.

The 34-year cop’s body was found Tuesday about 8:20 a.m. by a team of divers assigned the grim task of locating the fallen hero, a tearful Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said.

The officer’s concerned wife, Cheryl, had urged him to just stay home Sunday morning.

“She tells me, ‘I told him not to go to work. I really didn’t want him to go,’ ” recounted Acevedo. “And his response was, ‘We’ve got work to do.’ ”

Perez headed toward his station in the pitchblack darkness, driving into the torrential rains about 4 a.m. on Sunday.

The sergeant, who died just two days before his 61st birthday, spent 2 hours trying to make it through flooded roads to his assignment in downtown Houston.

On his way to his backup station in the Kingwood area, Perez drove into a 161/2-foot deep underpass — only to discover too late that the darkened passage was completely flooded.

Perez, described by Acevedo as “a sweet, gentle public servant,” drowned in the rainwater.

“Heavy rain, dark roadways, who knows what else he saw,” said the emotional Acevedo.

Perez’s last call was to his post in Houston, where he declared the roads were impassible and headed to the other location.

When Perez failed to appear for his regular Monday roll call, his supervisor called the sergeant’s wife. Police were able to retrace his winding path, eventually tracking the car to the underpass.

Although police located the spot, the waters were too treacherous to remove Perez’s body until the