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Eastpointe police honor officers and a citizen for life-saving actions and major investigations
Summary
Chief Haines presented multiple awards, recognizing officers for life-saving medical aid, investigative work that aided felony arrests, injury-in-the-line-of-duty, and a citizen who intervened at a McDonald's to stop a stabbing. Council members and the chief commended the actions at the Aug. 19 meeting.
The Eastpointe Police Department presented awards and commendations at the Aug. 19 council meeting, honoring officers and a citizen whose actions the department said saved lives and advanced major investigations.
Chief Haines opened the presentation, describing unit citations, certificates of merit, police-commendation awards and life-saving awards given to multiple officers for incidents ranging from tactical entries that rescued a shooting victim to life-saving tourniquet and CPR applications at multiple scenes. The chief said arrests and evidence recovery in several cases led to felony charges; one incident described included coordination with license-plate readers and other agencies that resulted in arrest on homicide charges.
The department named or identified the following award recipients during the presentation: Detective Brandon Birkel, Detective Mark Polst, Detective Brian Showers, Detective Ryan May (not present), Officer Aleph Hussain, Detective (then-officer) David Welch, Officer Michael Malali, Officer Joseph Fonazza, Officer Cameron Kraszewski, Officer Kyle Oleski, Officer Kyle Severini and Officer Stefan Karpuk. The chief described specific incidents for each award, including dates and actions: a Dec. 22, 2023 barricade and shooting incident in which detectives secured the scene and rescued a victim; a July 3, 2023 Amber Alert response that assisted St. Clair Shores and Detroit-area agencies; and multiple life-saving interventions (tourniquets and CPR) reported between 2023 and 2024 that staff said directly prolonged victims' lives until ambulance crews arrived.
The department also presented a citizen's award to Defonte Pace for intervening in an incident at a McDonald's on July 10, 2025. According to the chief's remarks, Pace fired a licensed warning shot into the air to stop an ongoing stabbing, held the suspect at gunpoint until officers arrived, and helped prevent further injury. The chief said Pace is a licensed CPL holder and held the suspect until police took custody.
Councilmembers and the city manager offered public congratulations. Councilman Rob Baker, who could not attend, sent an emailed message asking the council to pass on his congratulations to the officers and the citizen; the email was read into the record. The council did not take any formal action during the presentation; awards were recognition items only.
What was said on the record: Chief Haines read incident summaries describing the investigative and medical actions, and said officers' efforts 'saved the life of the victim' in at least one shooting incident and supported felony-level charges in others. The presentations included dates and locations for the described incidents as read by the chief.
Ending note: The police awards portion concluded with council thanking officers for their service and an invitation for award recipients to take photographs in the lobby after the meeting.
