The ambulance carrying Officer Roy rolled in to Memorial Hermann Hospital shortly before 5am escorted by a dozen police cars. Roy first told officers that he couldn't feel anything from the neck down.
"If their injuries would allow them to, they would be back at work tonight," said Chief Charles McClelland with the Houston Police Department.
The impact to the officers' squad car was so severe that both officers had to be extracted. The mayor and the police chief arrived before dawn and were briefed on the accident. They had a conversation with Officer Roy prior to the surgery.
"He was worried about his family," said Mayor Annise Parker. "He's got an infant at home and he was going to miss his classes at University of Houston."
"If their injuries would allow them to, they would both be back at work tonight. Both families have described them as such -- that HPD and being a police officer is their life," said HPD Chief Charles McClelland.
According to police, Officer Roy and his partner 40-year-old Gerald Mayola who are members of the Crime Reduction Unit were patrolling in a high drug traffic area in southeast Houston, when around 3:15am this morning they tried to pull someone over for failing to use a turn signal. Rather than stop, the suspect took off, leading officers on a short but high speed chase.Both cars lost control at a sharp curve in the road and went barreling into a ditch, rolling multiple times. The impact of the crash was so strong the officers had to be cut out of their unit.
"The door wouldn't open so the fire department had to cut the door off," said Lt. Phillip Munoz with the Houston Police Department.
There were two people in the suspect's car -- a man and a female passenger. The woman was detained at the scene and has been questioned and released.
The man, 20-year-old Frederick Anthony Davis, tried to run away from police after the accident but authorities caught up to him. He was apparently hiding in a shed, near the site of the crash."He fled northbound through a wooded area and ended up on some residential property," said Sgt. William Powell with the Houston Police Department.
Both officers were wearing seatbelts and both have served a little over five years on the force. Mayola was treated at the hospital and released.
Officer Roy went into surgery this morning. Before he went in he was awake, alert, talking to the mayor and his colleagues. All of them are praying for his recovery.
Davis is charged with felony evading arrest and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
We are told Roy will have to undergo rehabilitation and physical therapy.