Hillsdale County deputy killed during traffic stop of Jonesville man
The Hillsdale County sheriff’s deputy who was shot and killed during a traffic stop Thursday afternoon was a 51-year-old military veteran who served in the Iraq War, according to Michigan State Police.
The sheriff’s office said the slain deputy, William Henry Butler Jr., was serving as backup for another officer, a detective sergeant, who recognized a driver with an outstanding warrant and conducted the traffic stop on Beecher Road near Lamb Road in Jefferson Township, southwest of Hillsdale.
The vehicle’s passenger refused to give his name, but officers identified him as 34-year-old Eric Michael Fiddler of Jonesville, who also had two arrest warrants.
The officer detained the driver and attempted to arrest Fiddler, but Fiddler pulled a gun from his waistband, shot Butler and ran into a wooded area. Butler was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the sheriff’s office.
Butler was the nation’s 73rd police officer to die in the line of duty this year, a 12% increase over the same period in 2023, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page website, which tracks officer deaths. Butler is the 27th officer killed by gunfire, the same number as last year.
Butler is the third Michigan police officer to die in the line of duty this year, the second from gunfire. The other was Oakland County Sheriff’s Deputy Bradley Reckling, whose funeral was held Friday in Auburn Hills. A state trooper was struck by a car in January and died, according to the officer’s memorial website.
According to a database dating back to 1776, 669 police officers have been killed in Michigan’s history.
Butler was the third Hilldale County Sheriff’s Office officer killed in the line of duty and the first since Undersheriff Harland Wood, who was shot on Oct. 6, 1930, while attempting to arrest an ex-con who had written a bad $2 check, the website states. On Dec. 31, 1903, Hillsdale Deputy Nelson Cook died of head injuries sustained when a man he had arrested for forging money orders snatched his revolver and struck him repeatedly in the skull with it.
After the shooting, Michigan State Police said its air and emergency support teams and canine units searched the area for Fiddler. At 6:15 p.m. Thursday, Michigan State Police found Fiddler two miles from the scene of the fatal shooting in a field at the intersection of Culbert and Osseo roads south in Adams Township.
Fiddler shot at the police officers who ordered him to surrender. They then returned fire and killed him, state police said.
The State Police 1st District is conducting an investigation into the shooting of Butler. MSP’s 5th District Special Investigations Division is conducting the investigation into the shooting of Eric Fiddler, according to the agency.
“I am proud to live in a great community that comes together in times of tragedy,” Hillsdale County Sheriff Scott B. Hodshire said in a statement. “Please keep the Butler family in prayer in the weeks and months ahead.”
According to MSP, Butler served with the Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Department for 12 years. He leaves behind his wife and three children.
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