Texas Motorcycle Laws

Stafford police mourn fellow officer's death in motorcycle crash

Stafford police are mourning the loss of one of their own, officer Christian Crum, who died over the weekend while riding his personal motorcycle in Fort Bend County.

Crum, who was off-duty at the time, was traveling west on Avenue E about 12:15 p.m. Sunday when his Harley-Davidson collided with a car at Colony Lake Estates Drive, about 200 yards outside Stafford, investigators said.

He died a short time later at Memorial-Hermann Hospital, the Texas Department of Public Safety reported. The driver of the car was not injured, and no charges were filed.

The loss has rocked the Stafford Police Department, which was almost a second home for Crum throughout his 31 years. His father, Lonnie Crum of Sugar Land, heads the department's patrol division and plans to retire at the end of the month.

Law enforcement runs in the family. Christian Crum's grandfather, Sgt. Gene Cox, was a homicide detective at the Houston Police Department. He died in April 2009 at age 81.

"He's (Crum) been around the police department since birth," said Cpl. Raphael Virata of the Stafford police. "His dad started here in 1978, the year that Christian was born. The chief (Bonny Krahn) and assistant chief (Phil Horton) saw him grow up.'

After graduating from Clements High School, Crum joined the U.S. Navy and served two tours in the Middle East, his father said.

"My son was deployed on the USS Enterprise in the Persian Gulf and was headed home when 9-11 (attack) happened," said Lonnie Crum. "He got turned around and his deployment was extended."

After his four-year Navy stint, Crum decided to join the Stafford Police Department.

In his four years with the department, Crum maintained the communications equipment and helped write a grant that made the city's new Emergency Management Center a reality, Virata said. The facility, located at the Stafford PD, is about 80 percent completed.

Lonnie Crum held back tears as he remembered his son.

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