Duty Death: Timothy O’Neill
End of Service: 20/09/2017
By Ann Zaniewski
Detroit Free Press
KENT COUNTY, Mich. — The Michigan State Police are mourning the loss of a trooper who died this morning in a motorcycle crash.
Tpr. Timothy O’Neill, 28, was on patrol at 7:45 a.m. when the crash occurred near the intersection of Wolverine Boulevard NE and Belding Road NE in Plainfield Township, according to state police officials.
Another vehicle was involved, said Michigan State Police First Lt. Michael Shaw. No one else was injured. The crash is under investigation.
O’Neill joined the state police in January 2014. He served his entire career at the Rockford Post.
O’Neill was to be married Oct. 7. He is survived by his mother, father, brother, sister and fiancée.
“It is with a very heavy heart that I confirm the death of one of our own, Tpr. Timothy O’Neill,” Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue, director of the MSP, said this afternoon. “I ask that you please keep his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers in the difficult days ahead.”
Gov. Rick Snyder tweeted this: “His loss will be felt throughout our state & my thoughts & prayers are with Tpr. O’Neill’s family, friends & the @MichStatePolice community.”
In a news release, state police officials thanked the law enforcement officers and emergency responders who went to the scene, as well as staff at Spectrum Health Butterworth.
©2017 the Detroit Free Press