Puerto Rico Police Department, Puerto Rico
End of Watch: Sunday, October 6, 1985
Age: 29
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: Not available
Cause of Death: Drowned
Date of Incident: October 6, 1985
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Policeman Pedro Burgos-Lacourt, Policeman Herminio Lopez-Pilar, and Sergeant Francisco Diaz-Melendez drowned when their patrol car fell through a broken bridge into a swollen river during Tropical Storm Isabel.
The officers were responding to a distress call while driving along PR-52 Luis A. Ferre Expressway. When they arrived at marker 78.1 they did not realize the bridge had collapsed completely, and their vehicle fell into the Coamo River along with other vehicles. It was concluded that heavy rains caused the bridge to collapse and poor visibility obscured the missing portion of the bridge.
Policeman Homero Ortiz-Martinez drowned the following day while working on efforts to recover the patrol car from the river.