Slain officer ‘changed HPD’
Fallen police sergeant remembered for devoting 41-year career to community, racking up 22 commendations
Two days before Sgt. Harold Preston was shot and killed, his best friend — knowing the veteran law enforcement officer was on the verge of retiring — urged him to get behind a desk and take it easy.
The 65-year-old sergeant, who died earlier this month while responding to a domestic disturbance, had already logged four decades with the Houston Police Department. By all accounts
Thursday from friends, family and fellow officers during a memorial service, Preston loved to serve and wanted to keep working.
“And the last thing I said tomy friend, I don’t knowif it’s good or bad, I said, ‘Harold, you’re pushing the odds way too far,’” said Othelus Davis, Preston’s yearslong friend. “He hung up on me.”
Davismustered up the somber memory to hundreds of masked officers — many of whom were from Preston’s Southwest Station
— who flocked to Grace Church to pay tribute to the sergeant and his 41 years of service to Houston. Raised in Third Ward, the officer graduated in 1973 from Jack Yates High School and in1978 from Texas Southern University. The following year, he joined the police force and stayed put.
During that time, he racked up 22 commendations from supervisors, police brass and citizens he encountered on the beat, officials said. The last one was awarded in June of this year. At the time of his death, only one other officer from his Cadet Class No. 86was still serving with the department.
Police Chief Art Acevedo added to Preston’s honors with a Medal of Valor for saving the life of Officer Courtney Waller — whowas shot in the arm — during the Oct. 20 confrontation. But what made Preston a hero, the chief said, was not his actions at the time of his death. Preston was dispatched to a Houston apartment complex to help a woman face up to her estranged, abusive husband.
“We’re calling him a hero for everything that led up to that moment,” the chief said.
Mayor Sylvester Turner thanked Preston for giving his career to Houston.
“He could have retired years ago,” Turner said. “But let me say something: When you find your purpose, when you know your calling, when you know your mission, you stay the course.”
Ties to Yates High School
Preston’s only child, 23-year-old Alison Preston, said her father was forever young. He loved popcorn, pecans and reading the newspaper. Hewas a collector of coins. But before reciting that slew of memories, she shared a message.
“First of all, I want to say Black lives matter,” the daughter said. “Uniform on, uniform off, he was still a Black man.”
Houston protesters this summer chanted the phrase, and Acevedo, at times not wearing a mask, joined them arm in arm after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd — a longtime Houstonian who also graduated from Yates. Preston’s mother was watching the news and she saw Acevedo’s bare face during the protests, the chief said at the funeral. She later reminded him to wear a face covering because of the ongoing pandemic.
Acevedo also took note of how often Yates High School has been in the news and how it educated Floyd and Preston.
“We started this year, early on in the summer, we saw a product of Jack Yates show theworld that policing is not completely where it needs to be,” Acevedo said.
The sergeant, the chief said, represented the best of law enforcement.
“HPD didn’t change Harold
Preston,” Acevedo continued.
“Harold Preston and others changed HPD, and we’re grateful for it.”
Chaotic dispatches
Desperate calls for help on police radio traffic followed the Oct. 20 shooting where Preston was fatally shot in the head and back. Another Southwest Station sergeant, Joe Hughes, donned his gear on his day off and joined the throngs of law enforcement who rushed to save the officers and apprehend their accused assailant.
“I was crying and putting onmy heavy vest and getting my long gun,” Hughes said before the service. “I heard Preston wasn’t answering the radio.”
He listened to the rest of the chaotic dispatches as he drove to the scene. Among the voices on the radio was Waller, part of his eightmember squad, calling for help because he had been shot. Hughes remained at the apartment complex as Preston was rushed to the hospital and as SWAT members arrested the suspect, Elmer Manzano, in his death. Hughes has since spoken to Waller, as he recovers in a hospital, every day since the shooting. During one of those conversations, Hughes said Waller addressed Preston’s death.
“I did the best I could out there,” Waller said, according to Hughes.
“I know, Courtney,” Hughes replied. “I know you did what you could.”
Manzano, 51, has since been charged with capital murder of a police officer, attempted capital murder of a police officer and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Investigators said they believe Manzano killed Preston as Manzano’s estranged wife and son tried picking up their belongings from their 2626 Holly Hall Street apartment.
Preston, survived by his parents, daughter and fiancée, is HPD’s second line-of-duty death of 2020. In May, Officer Jason Knox was killed in a helicopter crash.
Preston will be buried Saturday in a private ceremony in Athens.