The usual emotions of the Cameron County (Tex.) Sheriff’s Department comm center were compounded when dispatchers learned that one of their co-workers died in a vehicle accident on his way to work. 
Ernesto De La Fuente, 26, was riding his motorcycle, Brownsville police said, when he was struck by a car driven by a person who was arrested for DUI. He was a three-year veteran of the sheriff’s office.
De La Fuente was thrown from the motorcycle by the 11 p.m. accident, after the suspect tried to pass another vehicle and struck De La Fuente head-on. He was taken to a local hospital where he later about an hour died.
“We were looking forward to him becoming one of our deputies in the future,” said sheriff Omar Lucio. “He did an outstanding job. He was a very courteous individual. We never had complaints about him.”
He added that De La Fuente had been attending the academy to become a sheriff’s deputy.
As news of De La Fuente’s death spread through the sheriff’s office, off-duty dispatchers and deputies showed up at the hospital to provide support for one another and De La Fuente’s family.
Lucio said he was notified about midnight of the accident, and then received another telephone call that De La Fuente had died.
Dep. Antonio Huizar Jr. started work at the sheriff’s office at the same time as De La Fuente. “We as police officers and emergency personnel, we do the work and we are out there visibly, but several times the dispatchers are not given enough credit … they are the first responders and they do a great job,” he said.
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