270 Arrests in the Lone Star Rally Enforcement Effort - and a Harris County Deputy Is One of Them
The Galveston County Sheriff's Office says the rally-weekend crackdown made 270 arrests by 5 a.m. Sunday. Among them: Deputy Cedric Cornell Walter, 29, arrested after authorities say he fled a traffic stop on his motorcycle on I-45. He is on administrative leave, the Harris County Sheriff's Office confirms.
GALVESTON - The Lone Star Rally's four days of motorcycles ended with a number the Galveston County Sheriff's Office put out Sunday: 270 arrests in a coordinated enforcement effort that ran from Thursday afternoon to 5 a.m. Sunday, FOX 26 Houston reports, citing reporting from i45NOW. The effort targeted impaired drivers, reckless driving, gang-related crime and other dangerous driving around the annual rally, which ran November 5 through 8; the sheriff's office did not provide a breakdown of the charges behind the 270 arrests.
It was a regional operation, and Houston was part of it. Deputies and officers increased patrols on the routes in and out of Galveston Island - Interstate 45, Highway 6, State Highway 146 and Highway 3. The Galveston County Sheriff's Office worked with the Texas Department of Public Safety, several local police departments and the Galveston County Precinct 2 Constable's Office, while Galveston police's Special Response Group, which handles crowd control and major events, teamed with similar units from Houston, Pasadena, Texas City and other agencies. A command center at the downtown transit building coordinated the response across the rally's entertainment district.
One of the 270 arrests belongs to a man who wears a Harris County badge. Sheriff's deputy Cedric Cornell Walter, 29, was arrested during the weekend after, the Galveston County Sheriff's Office said, deputies tried to pull him over and he fled on his motorcycle. Jail records list the arrest at 2:41 a.m. on Saturday, November 7, in the 7000 block of northbound Interstate 45. Walter faces charges of driving while intoxicated, evading arrest or detention with a vehicle, and resisting arrest, search or transport - charges, not findings; the Harris County Sheriff's Office confirmed he has been placed on administrative leave pending the criminal proceedings.
The rally itself is one of the Gulf Coast's biggest weekends - city figures describe its typical reach as more than 500,000 visitors and more than $115 million in economic impact, figures the source notes describe the event's usual scale rather than a confirmed count for this year, with concerts, exhibits and vendors concentrated downtown and along Seawall Boulevard. As the crowds headed home, authorities used the weekend's closing message on every rider and driver sharing the road with a motorcycle: stay sober, check blind spots, allow extra space, and avoid distractions.
