Man drowned in canal after dog fell into current.
While in his patrol cruiser a week ago, Harris County sheriff's Deputy Eddie Wotipka slammed on his brakes to avoid a stray dog in the middle of the road.
“He thought he'd run it over. He got out, and the dog was sitting there right in front of the car, wagging his tail. He wasn't hurt, and he carried him home,” said Robert Goerlitz, a friend and president of the Harris County Deputies Association. “He named the dog Skidmark. That's the kind of guy he was.“
On Friday, Wotipka's co-workers were grieving the death of the popular deputy, who drowned late Thursday as he attempted to rescue one of his other dogs from a canal near his home in Baytown. The 51-year-old officer had pulled up to his home in his patrol unit as he was ending his evening patrol shift in District 3 and was told by neighbors his dogs were running loose near an industrial canal.
Wotipka, 51, saw one of his dogs — a female English bulldog — fall or jump into the canal near the intersection of Thompson and West Cedar Bayou Lynchburg. He removed his portable radio and gun and plunged into the swiftly running water to try to save his pet around 11:15 p.m.
Witnesses told investigators they saw Wotipka go under water, resurface, then go under again. The deputy's wife, Karen, jumped into the water to try to save him, but he did not come up again.
“It doesn't look like it on the surface, but the water was ripping through there,“ said Goerlitz, who arrived at the scene an hour later. “We almost lost the rescue diver.”
Wotipka's body was recovered by around 5 a.m., about 150 feet from where he entered the canal, officials said. The dog also died.
Wotipka was on duty at the time of his death, officials said. He was in uniform and had driven home in his assigned patrol vehicle and had not logged off his computer terminal or called dispatchers by radio to say he was off-duty, said Alan Bernstein, the department's director of public affairs.
Officers are paid for the time they are traveling between work and home because they are on call, he said.
Wotipka joined the department in 1993 and worked in the patrol division on the county's east side.
“He cared about people; he cared about the job; he cared about the people he worked with. I lost one of my best friends,“ said Sgt. William Campbell, who said he had known and worked with Wotipka for 10 years.
Campbell, and others, described Wotipka as a family man who was passionate about protecting the citizenry and busting criminals. He and his wife have a son and a daughter, both in their 20s.
“Eddie was a very devoted father and husband, and he loved his family — he talked about them all the time,“ Campbell said. “And he loved his dog. He was always talking about the dog and all the shenanigans he and that dog would get into. ”
Sheriff's officials say the potential benefits paid to Wotipka's survivors will depend on whether county, state and federal agencies determine the deputy died in the line of duty or was acting in the scope of his job.
The benefits, from the Texas Workers Compensation System, the Texas County and District Employees Retirement System and the U.S. Department of Justice, could total more than $800,000 and would be in addition to the standard Sheriff's Office life insurance policy.
Goerlitz said the union is planning a fundraiser for the Wotipka family on July 31.
“This is one of those sad things,“ Goerlitz said. “I'm trying to get my mind off it today, but it's impossible. Everyone is just broke up over it. It's just devastating.”
By JAMES PINKERTON, HOUSTON CHRONICLE
