Photo courtesy Fort Worth Police Department
Officer Dwayne Freeto
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* View / sign the guest book for Officer Freeto
* Crown Victoria patrol car has troubled history
* Officer Down memorial page
Posted on 12/17/2006 5:44:08 PM PST by Dubya
FORT WORTH -- A 34-year-old Fort Worth police officer with two young daughters died early Sunday when his patrol car was rear-ended and burst into flames along Interstate 35W.
Officer Dwayne Freeto was pronounced dead at the scene. He had responded to a stranded motorist call on southbound I-35W at Morningside Drive around 3:45 a.m.
Investigators said the 21-year-old driver of a Lexus, believed to be a Fort Worth man, slammed into the rear of Freeto's patrol car at high speed. Police said they believe that alcohol also might have been a factor.
Freeto was trapped inside his burning car, a 2005 Ford Crown Victoria parked on the outside shoulder of the interstate, with lights flashing.
A bystander and an off-duty Fort Worth police officer tried to rescue him but said the fire was too intense, said Lt. Dean Sullivan, a Fort Worth police spokesman.
The Crown Victoria has a troubled history of fiery rear-end collisions, but Sullivan said it was too early to tell where and how the fire started.
The initial invesigation found that Freeto's car was equipped with a fire-safety shield provided by Ford beginning in 2003.
Freeto, a U.S. Army veteran, graduated from the Fort Worth Police Academy less than 10 months ago. He leaves behind a wife, Karen, and two daughters, ages 3 and 9.
Freeto had stopped to help a woman in a BMW change a tire. A man in a Dodge pickup had also stopped to help.
The impact from the Lexus started a chain reaction, forcing the patrol car into the BMW, which then struck the pickup.
The patrol car and Lexus burst into flames, he said.
"The impact into the officer's car was such that it forced everything forward and pinned the officer in his seat," Sullivan said.
The pickup driver burned his hands trying to rescue the officer, Sullivan said.
The Lexus driver suffered severe burns and was taken by helicopter ambulance to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas.
Blood was drawn at the hospital to determine if alcohol was a factor, Sullivan said.
His condition was unavailable.
"From the evidence and wreckage, it appears that speed played a part in this," Sullivan said.
Neither the driver of the pickup nor BMW driver suffered serious injuries.
Freeto was assigned to the Fort Worth Police Department's South Division, Neighborhood Policing District No. 8.
He is the 51st Fort Worth police officer killed in the line of duty since 1877.
His death comes just more than a year after Fort Worth police officer Hank Nava was shot and killed while serving a warrant at a home.
"Today, our city once again mourns for the loss of a member of the Fort Worth family," Mayor Mike Moncrief said Sunday morning. "Christmas is supposed to be a time of celebration, a time of giving, appreciation and reflection.
"It shouldn't be a time for mourning and loss.
"Right now our thoughts and prayers are with the family."
HOW TO HELP
Fort Worth police have set a phone bank to handle condolences or questions about donations to the officer's family. Call 817-392-6175 for more information.
Photo courtesy Fort Worth Police Department
Officer Dwayne Freeto
More photos
* View / sign the guest book for Officer Freeto
* Crown Victoria patrol car has troubled history
* Officer Down memorial page
How awful. Prayers for his family.
This is so sad. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.
Prayers for his soul and for his grieving family, I can't imagine their loss and pain. Tragic.
Our prayers for Officer Dwayne Freeto and his family
Rest in peace
When you leave the house in the morning there is no guarantee you will return. God Bless him and watch over his family.
Someone drives over a nail. An officer dies.
So many little accidents, many of which can be prevented, escalate into enormous tragedies.
No it appears, somone got drunk and killed the officer.
What a horrible way to die.
Yes, of course.
This isn't to excuse the drunk, he should be put to death, and I'm sorry to say that I'm 100% sure he won't.
My point was that if the tire hadn't gone flat, the officer wouldn't have been there to be killed.
The same analyisis can be used by all of us every day. For example, you forget your keys on the counter, and as a result rush back out of the house, slipping on the ice.
Watch Engineering Disasters and you will see that many of those disasters begin with some small oversight, just as this one probably did.
Of course, sometimes it is where you end up at a specific moment.
Condolences to Officer Dwayne Freeto's family and friends.
does the road have a shoulder?
were the cars in the traffic lane?
Yes. And no.
Drunk ran off the road and killed the officer.
My original post might have meant more to someone with a mechanical bent, or similar.
Do someothing simple, like crossthread a bolt, and, if you're not careful it quickly escalates into an engine block being pulled out of the car.
Another of America's finest falls because of irresponsible drinking followed by even less responsible driving.
Rest in peace, brother, rest in peace.
That isn't overly relevant. There have been a number of studies documenting that motorist whether sober or impaired tend to focus on flashing emergency lights and to drift within their lane toward those lights. This has been dubbed the "moth to the light syndrome" and is one of the reasons why more and more State have enacted legislation requiring motorists to move into a more distant lane when approaching a scene where emergency lights are activated. With alcohol impairment the tendency to drift is enhanced.
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