MCALLEN, Texas — Within a two day span, law enforcement officers on the Texas border mourn the loss of one of their own who died in a fatal crash while thankful at the same time that another brother in arms survived a similar crash.
On Friday afternoon, 52-year-old Alejandro “Alex” Martinez a deputy with the Willacy County Sheriff’s Office was killed in a single vehicle crash southwest of Raymondville, Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence.
Martinez was driving back to the sheriff’s office when his department issued Chevrolet Tahoe rolled over several times before stopping in a nearby field Martinez had been wearing a seatbelt by the still suffered fatal injuries, Spence said.
Sergeant Martinez had been part of the Willacy County Sheriff’s Office for 11 months, prior to that he had previously worked at the Weslaco Police Department, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and as the chief of the Raymondville Police
Just a day after Martinez’s fatal wreck, Daniel Walden, a volunteer deputy with the Brooks County Sheriff’s office and the chief of the Donna ISD Police Department was driving his patrol vehicle to the scene of an accident amid an intense storm.
Breitbart Texas reporter Bob Price had been riding in the vehicle as part of an assignment when the patrol hit standing water and hydroplaned before rolling over twice and coming to rest on its side. A group of Good Samaritans helped the Walden and Price get out of the vehicle and after getting medical observation both were released from a local hospital.
While neither Willacy County nor Brooks County are considered border counties, the U.S. Border Patrol set up checkpoints in each county, about 80 miles north of the border, thus bringing to the area run ins with drug and human smugglers who try to get around the checkpoints.
Follow Ildefonso Ortiz on Twitter @ildefonsoortiz
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