Authorities are working to confirm whether a body recovered from a creek along the Trinity Trail Wednesday is a missing Southern Methodist University officer.
The body was found among a mass of limbs, trash and other debris that appears to have collected in storm drains before washing ashore not far from the intersection of Oak Lawn Avenue and E. Levee Street.
While the identity of the person has not been confirmed, the location is not far from where SMU Police Officer Mark McCullers was believed to have been swept away July 5 in the fast-rising flood waters of Turtle Creek.
At about 4:45 p.m., officials at the scene began the process of removing part of the debris to free the body. Once the remains were secured, they were placed on a gurney and brought up the hill to the trail.
A number of first responders saluted the body as it was draped with an American flag. It was then placed in the back of a medical examiner's van.
Several agencies were called to the scene, including Dallas Fire-Rescue, the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office, the Dallas County Sheriff's Department, the Texas Game Warden and officers with the Dallas, Highland Park and Southern Methodist University police departments.
Dallas police tweeted that due to the high probability that the body recovered is McCullers, "he will be afforded every respect."
McCullers was working an off-duty private security job at a construction site at Fitzhugh and St. John's when he notified Highland Park police that water was over the hood of his car.
Surveillance video in the area recorded his vehicle on the Fitzhugh Avenue bridge being swept into the creek. While the footage is grainy, it appears McCullers opened the door and exited the vehicle before the car was swept downstream.
