By Macollvie Jean-Francois and Ken Kaye
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Officer Alex Del Rio loved his job keeping people safe on the roads and investigating traffic crashes, colleagues on the force said Sunday. The night before, he had just issued a ticket when, apparently, he went after a motorist speeding east on Sheridan Street.
For reasons still unclear, he lost control of his patrol car, and it slammed into a tree and burst into flames. Del Rio’s colleagues in traffic enforcement are now investigating his death in the fiery crash.
“That’s the irony in it,” said Capt. Tony Rode, whose Special Operations section encompasses several units, including Del Rio’s. “Our traffic homicide officers that investigate these are doing it on one of their guys. It’s just horrible.”
Del Rio, a nine-year-veteran, may have been trying to avoid striking a taxi cab in the road, police said. His marked, black-and-white car struck a palm tree in the 7000 block of Sheridan Street about 8:42 p.m., Marino said. Seconds later, it was aflame.
The noise interrupted Susana Oliva, 31, at dinner. She ran out, saw the police car and called 911. A couple of neighbors, already standing near the median, also dialed for help.
For several minutes, they ran between their homes and the median, wielding a household extinguisher, a garden hose, and a concrete pole in futile attempts to beat back the fire and save the officer. By then, the car was filled with thick black smoke. Oliva and others said the spotlight came on and they heard banging on the windshield, as though Del Rio was knocking on it from inside.
When a police officer came running on foot because traffic was jammed, Erik Malave said, he handed over a pole from his backyard. The officer used it to smash through a passenger window and groups of officers came running to the scene moments later. But it was too late, the blaze was too intense to approach.
“It’s the most awful thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Oliva, who wondered whether the paramedics and officers could have responded any faster. “They tried everything they could. My heart goes out to the family.”
Del Rio lived alone in a single-family home 2 miles east of where he died. Neighbors in the Sunshine Park neighborhood said when he first moved in about 18 months ago, a woman and her parents lived with him.
“He was a quiet guy, kept to himself and worked the night shift,” Mel Brunetto said. “It’s a sad situation, the way it happened.”
On the force, Del Rio was a joy of a colleague who brought a great sense of humor, affability and enthusiasm to his work. He started part-time, as a community service aide, for three years. In April 1999, he graduated to police officer and worked various positions in patrol, special operations motors and special operations DUI/traffic homicide.
Lt. Manny Marino, the department’s spokesman, once supervised Del Rio in a traffic enforcement unit.
“He was a great officer,” Marino said. “He really enjoyed what he did, and was extremely personable. It’s just tragic.”
On Saturday night Del Rio was assigned to traffic enforcement, looking for speeders and red-light runners. His last communication with dispatch was at 8:40 p.m., when he reported he had just completed a traffic stop in the 7800 block of Sheridan Street.
Two minutes later, police received several 911 calls reporting the crash.
Immediately after the crash, hundreds of police officers from neighboring jurisdictions arrived to help or honor their own, into the wee hours of the morning. The flow continued Sunday, with some dropping off bouquets, teddy bears and candles next to shards of glass and tire marks, for a makeshift memorial at the burnt palm tree.
One woman, the wife of a Broward Sheriff’s deputy, nailed to the tree a black-and-blue cloth hand-sewn by her mother-in-law. She said it symbolizes mourning for a law enforcement officer.
Francine Fox, of Cooper City, saw news of the crash on television and drove over to the site.
“It’s just mind-boggling,” Fox said. “I had to come over and pay my respects. How could I not?”
Copyright 2008 South Florida Sun-Sentinel