Deputy injured when driver hits patrol car on I-45, flees scene

Who's involved

• Elizabeth Perez · 33-year-old driver arrested for felony failure to stop and render aid, passing an emergency vehicle causing bodily injury, and driving while intoxicated^[1,2]
• Jacob Zamora · 24-year-old driver arrested for driving while intoxicated^[1,2]
• Wesley Doolittle · Montgomery County Sheriff^[1,2]
• Erika Serrato · Deputy, line-of-duty death earlier in 2026^[1,2]

The facts

1. The deputy was preparing to step out of his marked patrol car with emergency lights activated while investigating a suspected impaired driver in the 14000 block of I-45 when the passing vehicle struck it early Monday, Oct. 26, 2026.^[1,2]
2. The deputy was treated at a hospital and released.^[1,2]
3. Investigators tracked down the vehicle at its registered address and found damage consistent with the collision.^[1,2]
4. Elizabeth Perez, 33, was arrested on charges of felony failure to stop and render aid, passing an emergency vehicle causing bodily injury, and driving while intoxicated.^[1,2]
5. Jacob Zamora, 24, the driver originally stopped in the impaired-driving investigation, was arrested for driving while intoxicated.^[1,2]
6. Both Perez and Zamora were booked into the Montgomery County Jail.^[1,2]
7. Under Texas's Move Over or Slow Down law, motorists approaching a stopped emergency vehicle with its lights on must move out of the nearest lane when safe, or if they cannot, must slow to 20 mph below the posted speed limit.^[1,2]
8. Deputy Erika Serrato was struck and killed by a commercial truck on June 28, 2026, while directing traffic at a suspected DWI crash scene near the Woodlands Parkway exit on I-45.^[2]

Who said what

• Montgomery County Sheriff Wesley Doolittle Renewed his call for drivers to give roadside responders space^[1,2]
• Montgomery County Sheriff's Office The latest crash highlights the dangers deputies face while working on roadways^[1,2]