Police Officer Norman E. Spruiel, Detroit Police Department, Michigan

Police Officer Norman E. Spruiel

Detroit Police Department, Michigan

End of Watch Sunday, October 3, 1993

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Norman E. Spruiel

Officer Norman Spruiel succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained three weeks earlier while working an undercover murder case.

He was conducting surveillance with his partner while attempting to locate two suspects who murdered and then mutilated two young men. As the officers were finishing up their surveillance for the night they drove a few blocks away to compare notes at Prairie Street south of Lyndon in a dead end.

Officer Spruiel was standing outside his unmarked patrol car when he was shot twice in the back by a man unrelated to the murder investigation. The subject claimed he did not know the two were police officers and thought they were preparing to rob his brother's body shop.

The suspect was convicted of Officer Spruiel's murder and sentenced to 85 years in prison.

Officer Spruiel had served with the Detroit Police Department for 15 years. He is survived by his wife and three children.

Bio

Age 43
Tour 15 years
Badge Not available

Incident Details

Cause Gunfire
Incident Date Monday, September 13, 1993
Weapon Rifle
Offender Sentenced to 85 years

surveillance, undercover

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To the family and friends of Officer Norman Spruiel. My name is Jeremiah Becker and im a student police officer of the Detroit police department. I had the pleasure of reading about officer spruiel for my silent partner assignment and I was touched by his story and the comments you all left. I can tell from all this he was more then just a police officer and I pray that someday I can become a man like him. I'll be carrying his name with me for the rest of my career. I hope I can see officer spruiel and speak to him in heaven as well.

S.P.O. Becker
Detoit poloce training center

July 6, 2024