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Knimrod
03-20-2006, 10:45 PM
Off-duty Muskegon officer apparently kills self after chase
3/20/2006
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ALPINE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — An off-duty Muskegon policeman led other law enforcement officers on a high-speed chase early Monday before pulling off the road and apparently committing suicide, authorities said.

Kevin Stier, 39, was a 10-year veteran of the police force and a former Marine, said Tony Kleibecker, Muskegon's public safety director.

Kleibecker told The Muskegon Chronicle that Stier started calling Muskegon dispatchers about 4 a.m., "indicating he was despondent and potentially going to harm himself."

Sheriff's deputies and officers from Muskegon County's Muskegon Township later spotted Stier's truck and tried to pull him over, then backed off as he sped away, The Grand Rapids Press reported.

After entering Kent County, Stier's speed reached 85 mph on southbound Michigan 37 in Alpine Township, just northwest of Grand Rapids.

Officers pulled him over but kept their distance because it was dark outside and they believed Stier had a gun.

Police later set off a loud explosive device. Upon seeing no movement inside Stier's truck, they checked inside and found him dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Kent County Sheriff's Sgt. Roger Parent.

Kleibecker said he had no indication that Stier was troubled, describing him as a good officer with no history of discipline problems.

Stier joined the Muskegon Police Department in 1995 as a nightshift road patrol officer and most recently worked as a community officer.

He served in the Marine Corps from 1985-91 and was divorced with no children.

Link to story (http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-33/1142893748313330.xml&storylist=newsmichigan)