Officer injured in 2018 wreck back on duty
Mexico extradition sought for new suspect
Houston Police Department Officer John Daily had seen his comrades battle cancer or fight through repeated injuries to get back on the street.
Lying in a hospital bed with severe burns covering more than half his body, Daily used those stories as motivation to return to the job he loved. He slowly started using a walker. Eventually he began to hit the gym for treadmill work and light weightlifting.
On Friday, more than a year after a driver plowed into his squad car on Christmas Eve 2018 — leaving him trapped inside the burning vehicle — Daily reported back to work.
He had undergone 39 surgeries with four more still on the horizon. He needs to take physical tests with his doctors and the department to return to patrol in the Southeast Division. He’s currently assigned to administrative duty, but he’s nearing full strength.
“I’ve just been thinking about my family and thinking about all the other officers in the department and how I’ve witnessed a lot of them go through some horrific things,” Daily, 26, told the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday. “They’ve made it through and were able to continue their ca
reers, so I figured, why can’t I?”
Daily’s return comes months after charges were dismissed against the man originally accused of striking the officer’s vehicle.
DNA analysis revealed that Cesar Collazo, who initially was charged with two counts each of intoxication assault of a peace officer and failure to stop and render aid, was a passenger in the Lincoln Navigator that struck Daily’s SUV, records show. Collazo’s charges were dismissed last May, and he was released from custody.
The driver was identified as Leonel Moreno, 39, who fled the scene on foot and is currently in Mexico, according to officials with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. He faces two felony counts of failure to stop and render aid. He remains a fugitive, and prosecutors are working on extraditing him back to the U.S., officials said.
Daily suffered third-degree burns on more than 50 percent of his body. The other officer in the SUV, Alonzo Reid, suffered less severe burns and recovered faster.
Daily and Reid were assisting another officer around midnight when a driver plowed into their Chevy Tahoe, with its lights and sirens activated, in the 10100 block of Telephone Road. The car flipped and caught fire. During the investigation, a witness gave police a Facebook video that showed Moreno driving the Navigator earlier that day, according to charging documents. Moreno purchased the car from Collazo’s brother six months prior, records say.
Immediately after the wreck, Daily said some people at the hospital were skeptical that he would pull through. He was in a coma for a period of time. His twin brother Michael Daily, also a Houston police officer, never doubted him, he said. The brothers both graduated from the police academy in 2017.
“He was the first to tell people that I walked in, and I would walk out,” John Daily said.
Over the course of Daily’s recovery, donations poured in to help with his medical bills. Food and gift cards helped his parents travel back and forth from their home in California to Houston, according to earlier reports in the Chronicle. He and Reid were named patrol officer of the month. Michael Daily also started working night shifts to care for his brother, according to Badge & Gun, the Houston Police Union’s newspaper.
“I just want to thank everyone for the donations and all the support,” Daily said. “I would encourage them to keep in touch with other officers who are injured and keep them motivated.”