TX:Benefit held for wounded police officer Joe Pyland

Chronicle file
Houston police officer Joe Pyland suffered multiple leg fractures and a fellow officer was killed when they were hit by a car on June 29.
BBQ benefit today for HPD officer injured by car
By RUTH RENDON Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Aug. 29, 2008, 9:16AM

A benefit is set today for a Houston police officer injured in June when a car plowed through barricades on an Interstate 10 access road where he and another officer were working.

The other officer died.

Officer Joe Pyland and his family will be the beneficiaries of the barbecue lunch sponsored by the Texas Association of First Responders.

A Toyota sedan crashed through the construction barriers about 5:30 a.m. on June 29 when Officer Gary Gryder was about to hand off traffic duties to Pyland.

Pyland, 55, fell to the ground and suffered multiple leg fractures. Gryder, 47, died after being dragged alongside the patrol car and thrown several feet.

Pyland, who joined the Houston Police Department in 1980, is assigned to the neighborhood protection unit and also is a police union board member.

The driver of the car, Hung Dasion Truong, 24, remains in the Harris County Jail charged with manslaughter.
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