Waller County deputy dies after car flips into flooded ditch

WALLER CO., Texas (FOX 26) - Flags are at half staff Thursday in front of the Waller County Sheriff’s Office as the department mourns the loss of a deputy.

Deputy Loren Vasquez joined the department back in May. She was on duty Wednesday night when a call came in for a water rescue. She was racing towards the scene when she hit a patch of water and her car rolled over into a flooded ditch.

"The first responding units made every attempt to get access to her vehicle and free Deputy Vasquez but they were unsuccessful," said Chief Deputy Craig Davis.

It was only her third time out on her own. She had just finished her training period, but she was doing what she was meant to do.

"She told me she wants to serve the citizens of Waller County proudly, and I guess, as cliche as this sounds, I could see it in her face that she meant every word," said Davis.

There's another cliche you often hear about law enforcement agencies, that they're like a family. You hear that cliche so often because it's true. They lost a new member and that's why HPD chaplain Marty Montgomery is here.

"There's a lot of guilt sometimes. 'I couldn't be there to help. Where was I?' And what they need to understand is that we have to get past that. We have to help them feel that because they're so close, like a family," he said

Waller County deputies were seen saluting as the deputy’s body was loaded into an ambulance at Memorial Hermann Cypress.

From there, the ambulance and a caravan of Waller County deputies and at least one DPS vehicle drove to the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office in Houston.

The M.E.’s Office did confirm receiving a woman’s body early Thursday morning. 

Waller County Sheriff R. Glenn Smith wrote in a Facebook post early Thursday morning, “Words will never express what our office is going thru and we can only ask for your prayers. Due to very close family being contacted we are going to wait til early Friday or later today to release details but know that the blue line has heart felt tears on it for our office.”