Policeman

Homero Ortiz-Martinez

Puerto Rico Police Department — San Juan, 127
Accident
End of Watch October 7, 1985
Age 32
The Vigil Panel 130 ›
Gender Male

Incident

Policeman Homero Ortiz-Martinez drowned while working on efforts to recover a patrol car from the Coama River during Tropical Storm Isabel. 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.

In Our Keeping

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August 2, 2026
Last updated
August 2, 2026

Honored here by 1 tribute.

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Tributes

I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Policeman Ortiz-Martinez 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, Policeman Ortiz-Martinez.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Type Police Department
Location San Juan, 127
Platform Identity prpd.pr.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch October 7, 1985
Age 32
Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

The Sacrifice · Accident

Homero is one of 8,275 officers lost to accidents in the United States, 30% of the 27,551 remembered there.

34,117 officers are remembered on this memorial. Each number below is one of them.

  1. See the roll
  2. See the roll
Compare against
I

Time

In 1985, 67 officers in the United States were lost to accidents, the 59th heaviest of 174 years on record. The heaviest was 1929, with 118.

Every year on record · United States
II

Who

Homero was 32. Of the 7,718 lost to accidents in the United States whose age is recorded, half were between 29 and 46; the middle age was 36.

Age at death
Where he stood among them
Age by years of service
III

When

October holds 9.1% of these deaths in the United States; August holds the most, 9.5%. Mondays: 13.4%.

By month
By day of the week
IV

How

Accident deaths account for 30% of all 27,551 deaths in the United States, the 2nd most common cause.

Every cause
Weapons recorded
V

His people

Puerto Rico Police Department has at least 120 officers remembered here, Homero among them.

Across the years
VI

Where

Policeman Homero Ortiz-Martinez

Puerto Rico Police Department · End of Watch October 7, 1985

Where the Name Is Cut

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial · Panel 59-E

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