[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 171 (Tuesday, October 24, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H8081]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TEXAS TECH PEACE OFFICER FLOYD EAST, JR.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Officer Floyd East, Jr., of the Texas 
Tech Police Department recently responded to a routine student welfare 
check at the dormitory. Callers reported a 19-year-old individual named 
Hollis Daniels, who was acting erratically and potentially had a 
weapon.
  So Officer East went to Daniel's dorm room, and he discovered drugs 
and drug paraphernalia. Hollis, the defendant, was arrested and taken 
to the station for a standard debriefing.
  But that is when the intake procedure at the police station went 
haywire. The defendant was not adequately searched before booking. 
Suddenly, the dastardly criminal whipped out a gun and fired pointblank 
into 48-year-old Officer East's head, instantly killing him. This is a 
photograph of Officer East. Yet another peace officer, another guardian 
of the thin blue line, murdered for no reason.
  The suspect then fled, going on the lam, taking Officer East's body 
cam with him. The university went on lockdown, anxiously waiting for 
the killer to be found. Sure enough, thanks to the quick actions of the 
Texas Tech police force, the outlaw was located on campus and 
apprehended again.
  Officer East was an El Paso, Texas, native. He is survived by his 
wife, Carmen, and two daughters, Anna and Monica. The funeral was a 
solemn remembrance wrapped up with the release of over 1,000 black and 
blue balloons, which flooded the west Texas blue sky, all in Officer 
East's memory.
  Peace officers from all over Texas, and even other States, showed up 
for the funeral. As the body passed the Army National Guard Armory, 
officers and military stood at attention and saluted Officer East's 
body.
  Officer Floyd East began his career with the Texas Tech Police 
Department on December 1, 2014. He started as a security guard at Texas 
Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso, Texas.
  While working as a security guard, he went on to school at El Paso 
Community College Law Enforcement Academy to obtain his basic peace 
officer license to be a peace officer in the State of Texas.
  Court documents show that the defendant, when he was arrested, 
concealed a weapon in his pants; and when Officer East's back was 
turned, the coward drew the weapon and murdered Officer East. The 
weapon that he had was stolen.
  The defendant is charged with capital murder, and a $5 million bond 
is set. May Texas justice occur.
  Mr. Speaker, our men and women in blue voluntarily do everything they 
can to help protect and serve our communities, especially at our 
colleges and universities. For these remarkable men and women, their 
safety, like all peace officers, is never guaranteed. While the badge 
and the uniform represent safety for citizens, for some reason, in our 
society it becomes a target for other people, like this defendant.
  Officer East worked with university students, helping protect young 
Texans eager to learn on their university campus. He was senselessly 
killed. There is never an answer for murder, except to hold the person 
who did the murder accountable.
  The defendant's friends quickly jumped to the defendant's defense 
online, claiming Daniels was not a monster. Mr. Speaker, college 
students do make mistakes. A mistake is like missing class and sleeping 
in. Mistakes are not murdering people.
  The defendant is totally responsible for his own actions. He can't 
blame the drugs, he can't blame the fact that he was young, or he can't 
blame the fact that he was not thinking right.
  Mr. Speaker, I was a judge in Texas for 22 years and heard cases like 
the murder of Officer East. People are responsible for what they do. In 
our society, we cannot have this feeling that people are not 
responsible and that something else calls them to do things. People are 
totally responsible for the choices that they make.
  I have heard all of the excuses. I have heard: ``Oh, I was too 
young.'' ``Oh, I was too old.'' ``I was on drugs.'' ``I was affluent.'' 
``I wasn't affluent.'' I have heard all of the excuses.
  There is no excuse. People, like this defendant, are responsible for 
their actions.
  Officers like East are a cut above the rest of us, and they protect 
us from harm's way and they protect us from evildoers. He is of a rare 
breed, he is the Texas breed of law officers that sacrifice for the 
rest of us.
  Taps have been played for Officer East. He has been laid to rest. We 
pray for his family, friends, and those officers in west Texas and 
Texas Tech University.
  And that is just the way it is.

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