Procession honors Michigan State Police officer who donated organs after crash

With hospital staff and officers standing all around her, tears on faces and noses red, the wife of Michigan State Police Motor Carrier Officer Daniel Kerstetter craned her neck up toward the sky for a moment with her eyes closed. Then she walked towards the flag-covered casket.

Kerstetter wasn’t done serving, even in death. The officer in the commercial vehicle enforcement division, struck while conducting a traffic stop Friday in Lincoln Park, donated his organs following the crash and the choice to remove him from live support. And to honor his continued sacrifices, on Monday morning, his family, the hospital, funeral home staff, and his brothers in blue orchestrated a procession from Detroit Receiving Hospital to Verheyden Funeral Home in Grosse Pointe Park.

Staff in scrubs hugged family members, and people gathered around the emergency department doors as Kerstetter’s black casket, adorned with the Michigan State flag, was rolled out. Then it was time for fellow members of the Michigan State Police to carry their brother the rest of the way to the hearse.

The flashing lights of the state police SUVs halted traffic down Jefferson Avenue, cars splitting to the roadsides to let the loved ones through. Onlookers turned their heads watching solemnly, but with interest, as the hearse and police passed.

And then, Kerstetter and his loved ones were at the funeral home, where the officer and father of three will remain accompanied by law enforcement at all times until his burial.

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Brian Joseph, the owner of the funeral home, thought of the words of Blessed Solanus Casey of the Catholic faith as he made the drive: "Life is to live and life is to give and talents are to use for good if you choose."

Kerstetter only joined Michigan State Police last year, according to information released by the department.

He graduated from Motor Carrier Officer Recruit School in May 2023. He was a former equipment aide to the Detroit Red Wings, who are now mourning him, too.

He'd been in his police vehicle, with a seatbelt on, about 8:30 a.m. Friday on the side of the road of northbound I-75 near Dix Highway when he was struck. Police believe a Ford Explorer crashed into his vehicle, pushing it into the back of the semi-truck he was stopped behind. The Ford Explorer driver was killed as well.

It's a dangerous job, said MSP Director Col. James F. Grady in a news release. The loss is heartbreaking.

His fellow officers, nine in uniform, looked on and sniffles rippled across the room at the funeral home Monday as the Michigan State Police chaplain, Deacon Aaron Poyer, prayed for comfort.

"We certainly don't understand this; we are relying on You to comfort us," he said.

Officers placed their hands on the casket, eyes red, as the gathering drew to an end. The final goodbye, a funeral, hadn't been planned at the time. But each paused with Kerstetter, or Danny as Poyer referred to him. One officer knocked lightly on the casket, emotion slipping through as he did. Another officer kept wiping away tears, and a fellow officer placed his arm around him.

Kerstetter's family, then, went to greet their beloved amid his final sacrifice. A toddler looked up at the casket. Kerstetter's wife slid her hands across the fabric of the flag.

A public visitation is scheduled for 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Chas. Verheyden Inc. funeral home at 16300 Mack Avenue in Grosse Pointe Park. A funeral service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at St. Paul on the Lake Catholic Church, 157 Lake Shore Road in Grosse Pointe Farms.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Procession honors slain Michigan State Police officer Kerstetter