By Lori Higgins
Detroit Free Press
DETROIT — A Detroit police sergeant shot earlier this week during a manhunt for a carjacking suspect on the city's east side died from his injuries Saturday, Chief James Craig announced from outside St. John Hospital and Medical Center.
Sgt. Kenneth Steil's condition was improving this week, Craig said, but it took a turn.
“This is certainly a sad day,” Craig said as police cars lined Moross outside the hospital. “We lost a hero.”
Always remember @detroitpolice Officer Kenneth Stiel. EOW: 09/17/2016. https://t.co/sqlvV4qlqO #RIPOfficer #Detroit pic.twitter.com/ivmyVcYAvf
— Nat Sheriffs' Assoc (@NationalSheriff) September 17, 2016
A 20-year veteran of the department, Steil, 46, leaves behind a wife and two young children. Craig said he was affectionately known as “Shark,” because he was a master diver who would “go 200 feet and swim with the sharks.”
Steil was hospitalized Monday night in serious condition after he was hit in the shoulder by a shotgun blast about 11 p.m. near 7 Mile and Hayes, according to an earlier Free Press story.
Craig said he visited with Steil on Friday and talked with the sergeant about the shooting. Craig said that Steil was the kind of officer who “believed in leading from the front.”
“It was evident on this tragic day,” Craig said.
After the shooting, two other officers chased the suspect down, tackled him and arrested him without firing any further shots, Detroit Police Director Michael Woody said earlier in the week.
Marquise Cromer, 21, was charged this week with one count of assault with intent to murder; one count of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, one count of possession of a short barrel shot gun; and one count of felony firearm. Those charges are related to the carjacking and assault that preceded the shooting of Steil.
He faces the following charges for the shooting of Steil, though it's possible those charges will be upgraded now that the sergeant has died: one count of assault with intent to murder; one count of resisting and obstructing police officer causing serious impairment; three counts of resisting and obstructing a police officer; one count of possession of a short barrel shotgun; and felony firearm.
Cromer faces court dates on Tuesday and Sept. 26.
Woody said the manhunt began after the suspect “began a crime spree” Sept. 11 that included carjacking multiple people and weapons offenses. He said the man is suspected of shooting and wounding his own father.
“We had been looking for him all throughout the day and night when we had received some information that he was at a location on the east side,” Woody said. “Officers including the sergeant went over there to investigate and apprehend. When they arrived on scene, he saw them. He fled on foot, and a brief foot pursuit ensued.”
Craig said Steil's actions that day illustrate the kind of leader he was. He said Steil told him and others “I'm glad that I took the round because I would not have wanted any of you to take it.”
“Like so many of our Detroit police officers, when faced with danger, they run to it, not from it,” Craig said.
Mayor Mike Duggan said he sat with Steil in the hospital Wednesday.
“He was a joy to be with. He thought he was going to be going home this week.”
“The last thing the sergeant said to me … he said, 'thank God I'm going to be here for my wife and sons.'”
Indeed, in a letter Steil wrote after meeting with Craig – whose own mother died Thursday after a long illness – Steil said the doctor had given him good news.
“The doctor said that I can probably go home tomorrow and I should fully recover, ” Steil said in the letter, read by Lashinda Stair, 1st Assistant Chief at the department.
Craig said he was visiting with his father Saturday and “consoling my family,” over his mother's death, when he got the call that things had turned for Steil. He said he quickly traveled to the hospital.
Duggan noted during the news conference that Steil worked in the 9th precinct, which last year was the most violent precinct in the city. He said violent crime is down significantly this year, and he credited Steil and other officers in the department for that improvement.
In the letter Steil wrote, he thanked Craig for the chief's support during “this traumatic experience.”
“The response from the city and the department has been overwhelming,” Steil said in the letter. “I don’t know how I can thank so many people individually, so I hope that you can share this letter with the rest of the department.”
“To be the recipient of so much love and support is truly a humbling experience. I have never been prouder to be a member of the Detroit police department. All of the support has made a huge difference in keeping my mind off the pain and keeping my spirits up.”
McClatchy-Tribune News Service