Jun 30 2008
Houston Police Officer Killed in Early Morning Accident
HOUSTON – A Houston police officer is killed after he is struck by a driver who police say was acting in a bizarre manner at the accident site.
Police report that the suspect, Hung Dasion Truong, 24, was laughing when they questioned him.
Based on the odd behavior, police claim Truong may have been under the influence of some substance.
Three officers were working at a construction site to block traffic at the intersection of Interstate 10, Katy Freeway, and State Highway 6, when the suspect barreled his vehicle into two police officers.
Truong was traveling eastbound on the Katy Freeway frontage road at approximately 5 a.m. and failed to stop at several construction barrels before striking two of the three officers.
Officer Gary Gryder, a 25-year veteran with the Houston Police Department who worked on the southeast Patrol, was pronounced dead Sunday morning.
Gryder, who was a graduate of Jersey Village High School, was married with one son and had spent 25 years as an officer, according to the Houston Police Officer’s Union Web site.
Fellow officer Joe Pyland, who works with the HPD traffic and mobility unit, is in critical but stable condition at Memorial Hermann Hospital.
Pyland, who graduated from the Houston police academy in 1980, is married.
A third officer, identified as Officer Milton Sallee of the HPD traffic and mobility unit, was able to jump out of the way when the driver plowed into the construction area.
Truong was taken into police custody with a change of criminally negligent homicide pending against him. He could face charges of intoxication manslaughter pending the result of a blood toxicology report.


