MHPDE mourns the loss of Oak Park Officer Mason Samborski

December 31, 2008

officer-samborski-pictureThe Madison Heights Police Explorer Post joins with the entire law enforcement and Metro Detroit community in mourning the loss of Oak Park Public Safety Officer Mason Samborski.  The explorers send their deepest sympathies to the family of Officer Samborski and attended his funeral service on December 31, 2008.  The below story is from the Associated Press.

OAK PARK, Mich. — A teenager was arrested Sunday in connection with the fatal shooting of a suburban Detroit police officer who had stopped him for driving without a license, police said.

The Detroit teenager surrendered to police a few hours after shooting Oak Park Officer Mason Samborski, police said.

Samborski, 28, stopped the 16-year-old driver of a Jeep Grand Cherokee during the early morning. The officer put the teen in his squad car and drove him to a nearby apartment complex, apparently seeking an adult to take custody of him or someone who could establish his identity, Chief John McNeilance said.

A struggle occurred at the apartment and Samborski was shot once, the chief said. He wouldn’t say if the officer was shot with his own gun.

A neighbor called police. Emergency crews tried to revive the officer, but he died at Providence Hospital.

“It’s the worst possible thing that can happen in a police department,” McNeilance said. “Obviously, our officers are devastated.”

The teen apparently fled in the Jeep but surrendered about 2:25 p.m. at a police station in nearby Detroit. He was being held there while police sought murder charges.

Police declined to identify the teen.

Samborski had been with the Oak Park police force for four years, said Department of Public Safety Lt. Mike Pinkerton. He was married with one child.