Family members and fellow officers said their final goodbyes Monday to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent who was killed by a suspected DUI driver in Miami-Dade.
The funeral mass for FDLE Special Agent Jose Perez was held at St. Kevin Catholic Church in Miami.
Hundreds were in attendance, including police officers from the City of Miami and Florida Highway Patrol troopers.
Perez's wife and three children walked down the aisle behind his ashes, which were blessed by a deacon and a pastor.
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“Daddy, you were my best friend," said Perez's daughter, Kaitlyn. "You are the bravest, most hard-headed, strongest and most dedicated person I will ever meet in my life. Your accomplishments in life are a testament to that. More importantly, you have left three brave women like you.”
Perez, a retired Marine and former assistant police chief in Miami, is being given full police honors due to his death in the line of duty.
Officials said Perez was responding to an alarm call when a pickup truck crashed into his unmarked FDLE vehicle in the area of Northwest 127th Avenue and Northwest 7th Terrace around 11:45 p.m. on Aug. 2.
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The driver of the truck, 35-year-old Ysmael Sandoval, was making a left turn and had failed to yield the right of way, investigators said.
Perez, 55, was taken to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital Trauma Center in critical condition and died from his injuries 18 days later, officials said.
"Jose was a valley," Chief Luis Cabrera said. "He did not live his life with fear. He lived fearless.”
Sandoval was also hospitalized in critical but stable condition and later arrested on DUI manslaughter, vehicular homicide and DUI causing damage charges.
According to an arrest report, first responders noticed Sandoval had signs of impairment at the scene including a smell of alcohol coming from his body and slurred speech.
Inside his truck were an empty beer bottle and numerous unopened beer bottles, the report said.
Blood tests later showed Sandoval had a blood alcohol level of .146, well above Florida's legal limit of .08, the report said. He also tested positive for cocaine and marijuana, the report said.
