# Officer leads police on chase then kills himself



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

By Ken Kolkerand Lisa Medendorp
*CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER*

An off-duty Muskegon police officer shot and killed himself early today in his pickup truck along a busy Grand Rapids highway after a high-speed chase, authorities said.

The officer, 39-year-old Kevin Stier, was a 10-year veteran of the force, said Muskegon Public Safety Director Tony Kleibecker.

"He was a good guy," Kleibecker said. "He was one of our neighborhood officers. He was liked by the community and within the department."

Other Muskegon police officers this morning were trying to deal with the news. "Right now, we're focusing on our staff," Kleibecker said, indicating there would be a departmental "de-briefing" this afternoon.

Kleibecker said Stier started calling Muskegon Central Dispatch around 4 a.m., "indicating he was despondent and potentially going to harm himself. He was in his truck driving around."

Other officers and dispatchers tried to piece together information to figure out where Stier was. An areawide broadcast was put out with information about his truck, Kleibecker said.

Eventually, Stier's truck was spotted by officers from Muskegon Township and the Muskegon County Sheriff's Department on Apple Avenue near Mill Iron Road, Kleibecker said.

"They attempted to pull him over and he fled from them and would not stop," Kleibecker said. "It (the pursuit) did not become horribly reckless, but after a short time, the officers decided not to continue."

Kleibecker said the other officers followed Stier's truck and that once they had turned their cruiser lights off, "he slowed down and was driving normally." Traffic at the time was not heavy, he said.

Once the truck reached the Kent County line, officers from that county attempted to stop the truck.

As he entered Kent County, marked cars started following him. He took off at a high rate of speed, reaching 85 mph on southbound M-37, also known as Alpine Avenue.

He crossed the centerline several times on the two-way highway. Kleibecker said he was told Stier pulled his truck into oncoming traffic at one point.

Police pulled him over shortly after he got onto the divided part of the highway. Kent County Sheriff's Department deputies, state police troopers and Walker police officers blocked Alpine between Six and Seven Mile roads, diverting traffic for nearly three hours.

Officers weren't sure what he was doing in the truck. It was dark, and they believed he had a gun, so they kept their distance as they waited for tactical officers and negotiators.

A short time later, they set off a "flash-bang," an explosive device, to get his attention. They saw no movement in the car. They then found him in his vehicle, dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, Kent County Sheriff's Sgt. Roger Parent said.

Susan Remelts, who lives in a nearby mobile home park, said she watched from near the road as officers tried negotiating with the man in the truck. "He wouldn't come out," she said.

About 10 minutes after the traffic stop, Remelts said she heard a single shot. "We knew he was dead," she said.

However, police said the loud noise heard by neighbors likely was the explosive device. They believe he shot himself in the truck before police arrived.

Stier was a community officer in Muskegon who had served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1991, according to the Muskegon Police Department Web site. He served in Okinawa, Japan, and the Philippines during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Stier joined the Muskegon Police Department in 1995 as a night-shift road patrol officer.


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