County, city should act quickly to fire deputy, officer

To the Editor,

According to the Daily Telegram and the Tecumseh Herald, on Saturday, Feb. 27, Tecumseh police officer Darrin Briggs stopped a Jeep that was being driven by an off-duty county sheriff deputy (Kelly McCrate).

Despite a personal breath test that resulted in a blood alcohol content of .19, which is more than twice the legal limit, officer Darrin Briggs drove Mr. McCrate home and told him not to drive anymore that evening. Once home deputy McCrate apparently convinced his 18- year-old daughter to drive him back up to retrieve his Jeep and on the way back home he rolled his Jeep over and caused his daughter to lose control of her vehicle and end up in the ditch.

Deputy McCrate has been placed on unpaid leave and an out-of-county law enforcement agency has been asked to review the incident for the city of Tecumseh.

Review the incident? What is there to review?  A Tecumseh police officer has broken the trust of the department and the citizens of this city; he placed all of us in danger by allowing a drunk driver back on the road. If deputy McCrate were to have hit someone on that fateful drive home, the city of Tecumseh would have been held accountable.

As far as I’m concerned both deputy Kelly McCrate and officer Darrin Briggs ended their careers in law enforcement on Saturday night. I hope the city of Tecumseh and Lenawee County feel the same and will act quickly to fire both officers.

Daniel Bindus
Tecumseh