Trending Topics

Md. officer dies in crash after cruiser hits tree

Officer Hector Ayala was a seven-year veteran of the force

Duty Death: Officer Hector Ayala - [Montgomery County ]

By Police1 Staff

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — According to local reports, a Montgomery County police officer was killed on Sunday when his cruiser struck a tree.

Officer Hector Ayala, 31, was on duty responding to a call for backup. The police department isn’t releasing details about the incident, such as whether or not he was wearing a seat belt or what caused his car to spin off the road into a tree.

NBC reported that Ayala was a seven-year veteran of the Montgomery Police Department, assigned to the Fourth District. The Washington Post is also reporting that Ayala taught classmates how to box and took an “intellectual approach to policing.”

“He was a great friend, a great police officer, a great husband. He was definitely everything rolled into one human being,” said Officer Philip Meyer, who met Ayala at the Montgomery police academy seven years ago and recently worked on the same shift.