Fallen Officer a ‘Superhero,’ ‘Saint’ and Devoted Family Man

ST. CLAIR SHORES, MI — Fallen Detroit Police Sgt. Kenneth Steil was called a “superhero,” an “American hero” and was promoted to captain in a place where such a ceremony should never have taken place — at his funeral Mass Friday at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in St. Clair Shores.

As his wife, JoAnn, and sons. William, 5, and Alexander, 3, and others filling the church grieved, Detroit Police Chief James Craig posthumously promoted Steil, who died unexpectedly on Sept. 17 when a blood clot stopped his heart. He had been shot in the shoulder five days earlier by a fleeing suspect but had been expected to recover.

“This is a difficult day for me,” Craig said. “It’s never easy saying goodbye. Sgt. Kenneth Steil was a man of courage; a man of honor; a man of integrity. I keep referring to him as an American hero.”

The superlative certainly fit the 20-year veteran of the police department and St. Clair Shores resident, according to accounts of his funeral in the Detroit Free Press, The Detroit News and The Macomb Daily.
Through his outreach work in the 9th Precinct, Detroit’s most violent, shootings to date are down by more than 50 percent from 150 recorded last year, said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who had visited Steil in the hospital and expected him to recover.

“He says, ‘We've saved lives, we've avoided tragedies, we've made people’s lives better.’ He said, ‘I don't know whose lives I saved, and they don't know me.’ He says, ‘But I know this is what I was meant to do.’

“As I hear the division in this country, with people criticizing the police, I just thought to myself, ‘If everybody who's harboring anger against the police in this country could've been sitting in that hospital room, looking at the love in Ken Steil's eyes and his desire to protect every single person, that anger would be replaced, in this country, by understanding,’ ” Duggan said.

“Stand with Us”

Craig said he’s been asked in the days since Steil’s death what can be done to support police — who came by the hundreds from across Michigan and beyond to attend the funeral — during a time of sorrow and heightened tensions between police and civilians nationwide.

“Stand with us,” Craig said.

Craig wore a bar with “Shark” over his badge to the funeral in homage to Steil, nicknamed that for his work with the Detroit Underwater Recovery Team, where he was a master diver.

“He was truly a shining example of what a leader should be,” the police chief said.

He was also an ordinary family guy, dedicated to his wife and children.

When his injuries prevented him from walking 3-year-old Alexander to his first day of preschool, his colleagues formed the well-known thin blue line of support.

“Several police cars showed up, and the officers took (Alexander) by the hand, walked down the street and stood in line,” St. Joan of Arc Monsignor G. Michael Bugarin said.

“Superhero to So Many People”

One of them, Kijuan Anderson, an officer in the 9th Precinct’s Special Operations Unit, “looked Alexander in the eye and said, ‘Superheroes go to school. I want you to go into that school and be a superhero like your dad,’ ” Bugarin said.

Bugarin called Steil a “saint” whose generous spirit touched both his family and his fellow cops.

“A superhero or a saint does what he or she can to make the world a better place,” Bugarin said. “That’s what Shark tried to do, and that’s why he is a superhero to so many people.”

Following the funeral Mass, a long procession of cars and motorcycles escorted Steil’s body to Resurrection Cemetery in Clinton Township.

The Detroit Police Department has posted a series of tributes to Steil on its Facebook page, including these:

Suspect in Custody

The man accused of shooting Steil, Marquise Cromer, 21, has been charged with multiple felonies, including murder of a peace officer, first-degree murder; resisting and obstructing a police officer causing death; two counts of resisting and obstructing a police officer; possession of a short-barreled shotgun and felony firearm, according to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office.

Authorities say he shot Steil with a sawed-off shotgun after a crime spree that included shooting his father and carjackings.

Photo via Detroit Police Department