You’ve heard the phrase: “Drive it like you stole it.” Well Houston, Texas car thieves may have taken it a bit too literally. The suspect rear-ended a pickup truck. But it wasn’t any pickup truck: it belonged to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. And it wasn’t even the first time that truck got rear-ended.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office has a motorist assistance program
Run out of gasoline or breakdown on most highways, and you could be facing a ticket if you can’t afford to get a tow within two hours. But if you have a problem on the roads around Houston, a uniformed police officer may actually pull up in a Sheriff’s truck to help you.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office has an unorthodox approach to motorists in trouble. The logic is that if a couple gallons of gasoline or a jump start can get you out of the breakdown lane, traffic won’t have to slow down to avoid you. The safest thing for everyone involved is that stranded motorists get moving again. The Sheriff’s Office sees helping stranded motorists as such an important public service, it has a deputy in a truck doing motorist assistance work full-time.
Deputy Mendez said, “Our main function is helping stranded motorists. Either providing them fuel, or calling them a Tow-and-Go wrecker to get them off the freeway safely, and in a timely manner. That’s what this program is about.”
The Sheriff’s deputy has had his truck rear-ended before
Even while a stranded motorist waits for a tow, Sheriff’s Deputy Mendez parks his truck behind the motorist’s car, to provide a “barrier” if anyone veers into the breakdown lane. “We’ve been hit in the past by people who’ve been texting or not paying attention to the roadway.”…