(CBS DETROIT) – The family of fallen Michigan State Police officer Daniel Kerstetter held a public viewing in Grosse Pointe Park on Thursday.
Kerstetter was killed when his patrol vehicle was rear-ended by a 38-year-old woman driving a Ford Explorer while he was conducting a traffic stop on I-75 near Dix last Friday. Police say the woman struck the median wall, continued down the highway and struck the patrol vehicle. Kerstetter died over the weekend as a result of his injuries. The driver of the Ford Explorer was killed.
MSP Lt. Mike Shaw says this preventable death has devastated the family and shocked the law enforcement community. Shaw says the senseless tragedy was completely avoidable, which makes Kerstetter’s death so difficult.
“This didn’t have to happen,” Shaw says. “We should be going about our day just like any other day and not going to lay our 57th member to rest because they were killed in a preventable traffic crash. I think that’s the hardest part as you wrap your head around this whole thing. Danny’s got a wife; he’s got three kids, and you know, the youngest probably might not even remember Dad.