HUB TOP COP SENDS
Evans: Texas sergeant ‘gave up his life for others’
Boston police Commissioner William B. Evans hailed the heroism on display in rainbattered Houston — especially the unselfish bravery shown by Sgt. Steve Perez who died while trying to report to work as Tropical Storm Harvey pounded the Texas city.
The 60-year-old sergeant’s death, Evans said, is an example of how police, firefighters, EMTs and other first responders are trained to rush into danger, instead of turning away. Yesterday was a tough day for all those in the thin blue line. Evans shared his thoughts with the Herald’s Joe Dwinell: It’s sad. I know Houston’s Chief (Art) Acevedo. I’ve worked on issues facing chiefs and we can all relate to what he’s going through. There’s a no more capable guy. When everyone was running from danger, Sgt. Perez was going into it and it cost him his life.
I sent an email to Chief Acevedo to say our prayers and thoughts are with him today. It’s a monumental task they face.
That officer gave up his life for others. I can’t say enough about what Houston is going through. The sergeant left his home because he had a job to do. All of us in the profession realize the dangers. You saw that during the marathon bombings and the 9/11 terror attacks and Hurricane Katrina.
Sometimes people take public safety for granted. We run on adrenaline in a situation like this, but we’ve all trained for it. We were running on pure adrenaline all marathon week. But we had a mission to accomplish.
But the poor guy in Houston left his loved ones at home and drove into harm’s way. First responders are always going into harm’s way. They are the ones always getting the call no matter if it’s a fire or a terror attack or any tragedy.
All we can do is pray the rain stops and the floodwaters recede. Those officers need to stay motivated because people still need
their help. There’s been thousands of rescues already.
They need to help those in need. They’ve already taken heroic measures — even regular citizens with boats are pitching in. The only good thing out of all of this is you realize what good hearts there are when the chips are down. No matter what our differences are, people will pull together and look out for each other.
All of us are praying Houston comes out of this with no more tragedies.