Bloomfield Hills officer dies on duty Sunday

Bloomfield Hills Police Sgt. Steven Splan suffered a fatal heart attack while on duty Sunday, August 2, hours after he cut down and removed a large tree that had fallen onto Bloomfield Parkway, east of Woodward. Bloomfield Hills Police Chief Noel Clason confirmed Sgt. Splan's death, noting, “He was awesome. He was our public information officer, our fire investigator, and was a huge family man. He lived for his daughters and his wife. He glowed when he talked about them. He was a great sergeant and a great supervisor.” Clason said Splan, 46, suffered a cardiac incident Sunday evening, while working road patrol. Bloomfield Hills has a public safety department, with officers working 12-hour shifts of police duty, and then 12-hour shifts of fire duty. “He was on road patrol, and did clear a large tree in the roadway that afternoon. He had then backed up another officer on the road,” Clason said. “He was in our kitchen area, alone, on a meal break, when he was found by another officer about 11 p.m.” Clason said officers performed CPR and other emergency efforts, and was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital in Pontiac, where he was pronounced dead at midnight. Splan had been with the Bloomfield Hills department for 15 years and was promoted to sergeant in 2019. Prior to joining Bloomfield Hills' force, he was a Troy firefighter from 1992 to 2005. Splan, a resident of Rochester, was married and the father of four daughters, ages 16, 13, 10 and 8. Funeral services are scheduled for Friday, August 7, at St. Andrew Catholic Church in Rochester at noon.