Annapolis Cops Raise Money For Houston Police In Hurricane Harvey Aftermath

ANNAPOLIS, MD — The Annapolis Police Department will hold a fundraiser downtown Saturday, Sept. 9, to help the Houston Police Department, which lost an officer in Hurricane Harvey. Helping Hands Houston, organized by the Annapolis police, is a way to send a helping hand to the law enforcement officers in the Houston area who have suffered from the severe flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey, the department says.

Donate to Assist the Officer and help cover Annapolis police cruisers with handprints to "show the Houston area law enforcement officers that we care," the department said in a news release. Officers will be downtown at Market Space and Main Street from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and at Annapolis Police Headquarters, 199 Taylor Avenue, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.

To make a donation online visit the Assist the Officer website. You can also send a check to Assist the Officer, 1600 State Street, Houston, Texas 77007.

Houston Police Sgt. Steve Perezknew the dangers but persisted in going out into the storm when his wife, Cheryl, begged him to stay behind. Perez went out in the churning floodwaters to help the city he loved and drowned on Aug. 27 when his patrol car was swamped. "He laid down his life," Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said later. "He was a sweet, gentle public servant."

He left his home around 4 a.m., telling his wife and his father-in-law, who pleaded with him to stay home, “We’ve got work to do,” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said during an emotional 10-minute news conference Tuesday. Sgt. Perez tried for more than two hours to get to his duty station in the Houston Police Department’s traffic enforcement division, but could not find a path through “heavy rain, dark roadways, who knows what else” to get to a secondary location. “Listen, I cannot get to my primary duty station” was the last radio communication he made.

The Assist the Officer site is accepting donations for Houston area law enforcement officers who are recovering from the severe flooding that devastated the region, and for the Perez family.

Photo of Sgt. Steve Perez, courtesy of Houston Police