In 2024, Eric Fiddler was high on meth when he shot and killed Hillsdale County sheriff’s deputy William Butler Jr. during a traffic stop and then escaped into the woods.
A group of 10 Michigan State Police troopers who were part of a multi-agency response tracked Fiddler into the woods so thick that the police helicopter was of no assistance.
The troopers knew Fiddler wasn’t going to go without a fight. He was waiting for the police in a planned ambush behind a wall. When the officers spotted him, Fiddler fired a weapon, and police returned fire and killed him.
My son was part of Michigan State Police troopers who responded to that call. A police officer gunned down in the line of work impacts the entire brotherhood of law enforcement, because they know it could have been them.
In March, Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office put out a press release with this headline: “No Charges for MSP Troopers in Fatal 2024 Shooting of Fugitive Eric Michael Fiddler.”
The headline put out by the state’s highest-ranking law enforcement officer was tone deaf and insulting. It displayed a shocking lack of understanding of what transpired—the murder of a law enforcement officer.
Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wriggelsworth also took offense to the headlines and posted a video on Facebook back then criticizing the media for using the phrase “no charges” in a shooting he described as “clear cut, open and shut.”
“How about a headline that reads, ‘Hero Troopers Justified in Officer-Involved Shooting,'” Wriggelsworth asked.
“Justified should have been in the headline,” Wriggelsworth said. “We have a saying around the sheriff’s office: The words you choose and the words you use matter big time.”
But Wriggelsworth was misguided in blaming the media, including local TV stations. They simply parroted the headline the AG’s office fed them.
AG headline: “No Charges for MSP Troopers in Fatal 2024 Shooting of Fugitive Eric Michael Fiddler.”
WLNS headline: “No charges for MSP troopers in officer-involved shooting death.”
WILX headline: “Attorney General: No charges for troopers who fatally shot man wanted for killing Hillsdale Co. deputy.”
Nessel has come across as hostile to police since she took office.
Barely a week after the death of George Floyd, Nessel joined the mob to cast all police as being racist with a June 3, 2020, press release.
“The fact is this: we cannot lose one more life simply because we’re unwilling to acknowledge that there are problems with how and who we police,” Nessel said in the release. “These tragedies cannot continue to be written off as unfortunate accidents, or the rogue acts of a bad cop or the results of poor training, or the consequences of too few resources.”
So what is that dog whistle? That cops are racist.
The lack of proper judgment displayed by Nessel and her office is especially alarming after the director of the Michigan State Police, Col. James Grady, inexplicably directed his staff to refer all cases involving a shooting to Nessel’s office instead of local prosecutors.
Grady was appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
This month, the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police will honor those Michigan State Police troopers who responded to the call to capture a cop killer. The police chiefs association will give them the “Police Medal of Honor,” the highest award the association can bestow.
To be eligible for the award, the officer must be fully aware of imminent threat to their safety by another person who is actively trying to kill or do great bodily harm to the officer.
I asked two longtime former police officers still involved in law enforcement in Michigan what they thought of the headline.
One said it almost seemed Nessel’s office was disappointed no charges were filed: “It was like, ‘We can’t discipline you for being heroes… maybe next time.'”
The other said: “This guy just murdered someone in cold blood. He shoots at us. Instead of support from your attorney general, this is what you get.”
Tom Gantert is a contributing writer for Michigan Enjoyer.
