Caught on camera: Police officer falls, still stops chase in Sealy

SEALY, Texas (KTRK) -- As a high-speed chase approached the small city of Sealy Wednesday night, police Sgt. Fred Palmer knew what he had to do.

"People won't see him coming," Palmer said. "There's any number of things that could have happened right here that could've turned tragic."

As the driver hit speeds of 100 miles per hour coming north on Highway 36 toward Sealy, Sgt. Palmer deployed a spike strip in the hope of stopping the chase. He's similarly stopped at least 10 to 15 other vehicles in his 18-year career with Sealy PD.

"You just grab it, and pull," he said.

Except this time when he pulled, he fell flat onto the side of the road.

"The best part about it is I'm here to laugh about it," said Palmer.

He got a good laugh, and so have his co-workers. His police chief posted dash camera video of the incident onto the department's Facebook page.

"Officers being officers, we kinda found it amusing after the fact," said Sealy Police Chief Jay Reeves.

He says he asked Palmer's permission before posting the video.

"That's part of being human. I wanted the public to see, not only do we have a job to do, but we're human," he said.

Palmer is OK. His ego, maybe, the only thing a little bruised.

He says he's learned from the incident. Looking at the video he realizes he stepped right in the box from the spike strips. Since it was wet from the night's rains, he says he slipped and ended up in the mud on the side of the road.

But, the spikes worked.

The driver rolled to a stop less than a mile up the road and surrendered. No one was hurt.

This is not the first time Palmer has had a fall caught on camera. He says it's happened at least two or three times before. But it is all part of the job these days, and if you haven't taken a tumble while doing police work, he says, you're not doing your job.