Harris County Detention Officer Charged After Humble Fence Crash

A Harris County detention officer is off the job after a pickup struck a fence at a Humble-area home and drove off early Sunday. Gerardo Segundo, 21, faces a misdemeanor DWI charge and has been placed on administrative leave pending his court case, the Harris County Sheriff's Office said.

Alfonso Pineda said his family was asleep when the crash happened around 1:50 a.m. Sunday. Surveillance video at his home showed bright headlights and an engine revving before impact. Pieces of the truck stayed on the property for more than a day afterward.

Pineda woke to a loud boom and found the driver gone, with a bumper left behind. "It was getting really close, really loud. When the tire kept spinning, like 30 seconds later we heard boom, the biggest boom we could have heard," Pineda told Eyewitness News. He put the repair cost at $3,000.

Deputies from the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office traced a trail of liquid from the scene to a home a few streets away, according to court records. They found a damaged pickup there and brought it back to compare with the parts left at Pineda's home.

Court records note bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and an odor of alcohol. Segundo declined a field sobriety test. At a probable cause hearing, a magistrate said prosecutors had not supplied enough evidence on a separate allegation that he intentionally damaged the fence, and dismissed that charge.

Segundo has worked for the Harris County Sheriff's Office for three years. He lives near Pineda, who said he did not know his neighbor's job. "I did not know that," Pineda said. "It would have been way better for him if he would have just stayed." No one answered at Segundo's home Monday, and online records did not list an attorney of record.