Conroe Police Sergeant killed

Conroe Police Sgt. Gary Daniel Hardage, 40, of New Waverly was killed in an early morning crash, when his motorcycle collided with an SUV in the 3200 block of West Davis Street, according to police officials. Hardage was pronounced dead on the scene.

Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace Trey Spikes conducted and inquest and had Metcalf Funeral Directors transport the officer’s body to the Southeast Texas Forensic Center in Conroe for an autopsy, according to Trooper Landon Blum with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The driver of the other vehicle, a Jeep Cherokee, was identified as 19-year-old Joshua Cox of Montgomery, Blum said.

Cox was initially transported to an area hospital, but was examined and released then returned to the scene to assist with the investigation, Blum said.

Hardage was off-duty when the crash occurred around 1:30 a.m. and was riding eastbound in the center lane on West Davis, when Cox started to pull out of Taco Bell.

“(Hardage) apparently saw he was pulling out and applied the brakes and laid the bike down, but he hit the driver’s side of the Jeep,” Blum said.

Hardage’s gas tank burst into flames, but he had slid off the bike during the collision.

Blum said the precise cause of the crash remains under investigation and there were multiple issues to consider. CPD accident investigators assisted DPS in the on-scene investigation and with traffic control and lighting, along with the Conroe Fire Department.

Hardage’s widow, also employed by the Conroe Police Department, was on duty at the time and was quickly notified by her husband’s fellow officers, as were his parents who live in South Montgomery County.

Read more in Tuesday’s edition of The Courier…