Roll of Honor
Incident
Sergeant Francisco Diaz-Melendez, Policeman Pedro Burgos-Lacourt, and Policeman Herminio Lopez-Pilar drowned when their patrol car fell through a broken bridge into a swollen river during Tropical Storm Isabel. The officers were responding to a distress call while driving along PR-52 Luis A. Ferre Expressway. When they arrived at marker 78.1, they did not realize the bridge had collapsed completely, and their vehicle fell into the Coamo River along with other vehicles. It was concluded that heavy rains caused the bridge to collapse, and poor visibility obscured the missing portion of the bridge. Policeman Homero Ortiz-Martinez drowned the following day while working on efforts to recover the patrol car from the river.
Survivors
Sergeant Diaz-Melendez was survived by his wife and six children.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-PR-2069FB80- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 2, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Sergeant Diaz-Melendez served with the Puerto Rico Police Department.
Thank you for your service to the San Juan community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Sergeant Diaz-Melendez.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Sergeant Francisco Diaz-Melendez is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In 127, 85 of 388 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 21.9% of this state's fallen. That is 9.1 percentage points below the national rate of 31%.
At Puerto Rico Police Department, 77 of 364 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 21.2% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Francisco Diaz-Melendez's cause is highlighted.
How Francisco Diaz-Melendez Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. Francisco Diaz-Melendez is highlighted in Oct.
Incident Location
Others Who Wore This Badge
363 officers from Puerto Rico Police Department are honored on badge.nw. Showing the 16 most recent.
