"It's sad:" Retired Racine County Sheriff's deputy killed in crash in Town of Yorkville

RACINE COUNTY (WITI) -- Racine County officials say a man was killed in a one-vehicle wreck in the Town of Yorkville late on Saturday, January 10th. The victim has been identified as 61-year-old Gary Gage -- a retired Racine County Sheriff's deputy.

Gary Gage

Authorities say the wreck happened around 10:30 p.m. on Spring Street. The preliminary investigation shows Gage lost control of his pickup truck westbound on County Highway C, slid sideways across the road and into a ditch before striking a utility pole.

When emergency responders arrived at the scene, they found Gage was unresponsive and trapped in his vehicle. A short time later he was pronounced deceased.

David Bordak thought the cold and ice made his transformer box blow late Saturday -- but when he looked outside he saw the crash.

"You can see from the marks in the snow that the truck was airborne. A messed up scene. He veered off, and wound up taking out the mailbox," Bordak said.

Flowers now mark the spot where Gage was pronounced dead. What caused him to lose control is unknown.

"It's sad. I was sitting on my couch watching TV when all of a sudden power flashed out and there was a big bright blue explosion. I figured it was just the transformer box blowing and then I realized that there was something, something out there in the front yard. It's heartbreaking just to have someone lost their life that way and then for it to happen outside your house. I haven't even been here that long. This is a pretty straight stretch of road too, so something -- something happened," Bordak said.

The investigation shows Gage was wearing a seat belt.

Gage joined the Racine County Sheriff's Department in 1989 and worked 23 years before he retired in December of 2012. He worked in several different areas -- serving as a jail deputy, a patrol deputy, working as part of the Special Enforcement Unit and working in court.

The crash remains under investigation.