In Auburn Hills, Oakland deputy mourned day after Hillsdale cop killed

Lina Portman3 days ago

0 4 minutes read

Hundreds of police from across southeast Michigan and as far as Ohio and Canada gathered Friday in Auburn Hills to pay last respects to one of their own — killed in the line of duty.

Bradley Reckling, a nine-year veteran of the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, was killed on Saturday night when youths pursued him in a stolen SUV on Detroit's east side, leaped out and shot him repeatedly at close range. Reckling was leading other officers in a lengthy chase of the youths that began earlier in the day, when a Chevrolet Equinox was stolen from Red Oaks Waterpark, the county's large public facility in Madison Heights.

Three youths are in custody in the incident that stunned Michigan's first responders, only to have them rocked by a second death on Thursday. A Hillsdale County deputy was killed in a shootout about 20 miles south of Jackson.

“Prayers to Hillsdale County Sheriff's Office as we have lost another deputy there,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said Thursday night, on the department's Facebook site.

Reckling's smiling image was added this week to the top of the page, alongside that of Oakland Deputy Eric Overall, who died in the line of duty in 2017 when he was struck by a fleeing man's car.

Reckling, 30, was married and the father of three daughters, ages 5, 4 and 1, and his wife, Jacqueline, is expecting a fourth child, Bouchard said. Less than two weeks before his funeral, on Father's Day, the family's church in Auburn Hills held a service entitled “No Joke, You're a Dad.” On Friday, mourners jammed the Apostolic Church on Squirrel Road, bidding tearful farewells to a respected detective, popular colleague, churchgoer and neighbor, husband and father.

Reckling is the seventh Oakland County Sheriff's deputy to be killed in the line of duty in the department's 200-year history, and his was the first on-duty death due to assault in more than eight decades, a spokesman said. On Friday, as the visitation ended at 3 p.m., the church parking lot was filled with hundreds of officers, all in their respective departments' full-dress uniforms, standing in ranks facing the entryway, where a hearse was parked.

A veteran of the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, who declined to give his name, said Deputy Reckling had “just started on the stolen car task force.” The night Reckling was fatally shot “might've been his first run after a stolen car, or one of his first,” the officer said.

Outside the entryway, an honor guard formed, each member attired in white gloves. Media members were asked to stand about 100 yards away. At the drive-in entrance to the parking lot, two fire service ladder trucks were parked, their extended ladders forming an arch from which hung a large American flag, waving under gray skies.

Officiating at the service were three church leaders, led by Bishop Roland Baker — listed in a church program that had Reckling's smiling face on its cover, beside the words “honor, duty, courage.” Giving the eulogies were “family and friends,” along with Bouchard, Oakland County's top cop since 1999.

After the 90-minute service, and under a sprinkle of rain, hundreds of officers reformed in ranks outside the church. Nearby stood rows of dignitaries, including Oakland County Executive David Coulter and U.S. Rep. John James. Family members gathered near the hearse, including Reckling's widow, looking stricken, with one of the couple's daughters in her arms. She held another by the hand.

Following long minutes of silence, a direction of bagpipes began streaming from the church, suddenly growing loud as 10 pipers emerged with a corps of drummers behind, playing on as pallbearers rolled the casket out. Next came an ear-splitting 21-gun salute, fired in the traditional three volleys by seven members of an honor guard. Finally, there was the soft playing of taps by a bugler, whose notes were drowned out momentarily as a county helicopter roared low overhead, banking west over the church and quickly disappearing into clouds, as if to suggest how swiftly a vigorous life can end.

Soon, a call rank out multiple times through the ranks of officers: “Detail! Stand by for final salute!”In front of the assembled troops stood Bouchard, in white gloves and with six gold stars on navy sleeves. His and hundreds of other hands rose slowly to foreheads, as a squad of motorcycles filed past, followed by the hearse and then dozens of police vehicles, all with emergency lights flashing, some with sirens screaming,

The event, bursting with drama, was “soul crushing,” Bouchard said, speaking to media as the crowds dispersed.

“Our people are hurting. The family has a hole that'll never be filled. Jacqueline's world has been shattered. I thank all the people out there who've been lifting this family in prayer,” Bouchard said. He said it was too soon for him to discuss the circumstances of Reckling's death.

After murder charges against the suspects are “well in hand,” Bouchard said, “I'll have a lot to say about what led to this.”

Nationwide, law enforcement officers are dying or being injured in the line of duty at an increasing rate, said Matt Saxton, executive director of the Michigan Sheriff's Association, and retired sheriff of Calhoun County — “so we're neighbors of Hillsdale.”

“It's tragic for the law enforcement community in Michigan to lose two peace officers in one week. It's senseless. Two fathers did not go home to their children, just for doing their job,” Saxton said.

Contact Bill Laytner: [email protected].

Lina Portman

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