He has been identified as Gary Gage, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
He was killed late Saturday after a pickup hit a utility pole in the 2000 block of Spring Street (Highway C), according to initial reports from the Racine County Sheriff’s Office.
Gage, 61, of the City of Burlington, worked for the Racine County Sheriff’s Office from 1989 to 2012, said Sheriff’s Lt. Steve Sikora.
He started in the jail and then went to patrol and throughout his 23-year career worked in the special investigations unit and then in courts, Sikora said.
“I knew him. Everyone knew him,” Sikora said, saying many in the Sheriff’s Office are in shock that one of their own was killed. “He was fun to work with.”
“The sheriff sends his condolence to his family and friends and his law enforcement family,” Sikora said.
Capt. Tom Lamke, 51, with the Racine County Sheriff’s Office, patrolled Racine’s inner city with Gage during the late 1990s with the office’s Selective Enforcement Unit, which is no longer in operation, he said.
He and Gage spent two to three-years riding in a squad car eight hours a day in Racine’s high-crime areas, a high-pressure patrol assignment.
“Gary was the most well-read person outside of academia I’ve ever met, which made for some interesting conversations in the squad car,” he said. “He had this global picture of how things work and was great at not letting that aspect of the job get to you.”
Lamke remembered warmly how Gage brought a meticulous nature, a positive attitude and consistent work ethic to each stage of his career.
“It was nice to have him as the guy sitting next to me,” he said.
Jim Ladwig, RAMAC president and former county executive, was in the Racine County Metro Drug Unit when Gage was a deputy, he said.
“Gary was always a guy that was willing to listen and always willing to engage in conversation,” he said. “He was just a very good guy.”
Racine County Sheriff’s deputies and the Union Grove-Yorkville Fire and Rescue Department were dispatched to the scene, located just east of the Southern Wisconsin Center campus, at 10:27 p.m. Emergency crews found the unresponsive driver trapped in his vehicle, which was found on its side. A short time later, the driver was pronounced deceased.
The Sheriff’s Office said preliminary investigation indicates that the driver lost control while traveling westbound on Spring Street when it slid sideways across the road and into the ditch. That caused the vehicle to flip onto its side. The vehicle continued to slide until it hit a utility pole before stopping, according to the release.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation, Sikora said Monday afternoon.
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