Sergeant Kenneth Melvin Steil was a 46-year-old, 20-year veteran of the Detroit Police Department when he was shot during a foot pursuit on an east-side street in September 2016. The suspect, 21-year-old Marquise Cromer, had been wanted in a string of violent crimes, including a carjacking and the shooting of his own father. The chase ended at a gas station where Cromer turned and fired a sawed-off shotgun, striking Steil in the shoulder.

Steil was taken to St. John Hospital and initially appeared to be recovering and talking about returning to duty. Five days after the shooting, on September 17, 2016, he collapsed while preparing for discharge and died from a blood clot that formed as a complication of the gunshot wound. He was posthumously promoted to Captain and is survived by his wife and two young sons.

Cromer was arrested at the scene. Charges were upgraded after Steil’s death; Cromer’s defense raised mental illness as an issue and he said he was hearing voices at the time. At sentencing in February 2018, Steil’s widow JoAnn read an impact statement that mentioned both her grief and her forgiveness. Steil or knowledge of the events at the gas station that evening?