Officers honor late police captain around department

By David Custer

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    FLINT, Michigan (WNEM) — lt has been several months since Deputy Police Chief Jeff Antcliff joked with his friend and colleague inside the Flint Police Department’s gym.

“You always knew when he was in the building, you know. Not obnoxious, he was just loud and laughed. He’s always laughing here,” Antcliff said.

Nine months after a crash that took Capt. Collin Birnie’s life, Antcliff finds himself laughing alone in that gym that now bears the late captain’s name on the front door.

“He was there more than anybody else, and when I would walk out the door, he would be in there already, and you’d know it because heavy metal music would be blaring and if he didn’t see me, I’d bang on the door and give him a little fist bump and he’d smile back,” Antcliff said.

Feb. 4, 2022 was the last time Birnie would smile back through that gym door.

On Birnie’s drive home that evening, he was hit head-on by a teenager who lost control while passing other cars in wintry conditions on Elms Road in Mt. Morris Township. Birnie was rushed to a hospital where he later died.

No one at the department thought the veteran captain, who fought crime in one of the country’s most dangerous cities for 26 years, would lose his life this way.

“Also being a veteran, you know, Marine Corps veteran from the first Gulf War, and then you know, to have this happen, no, I don’t think it ever crossed anyone’s mind,” Antcliff said.

Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said he was impressed at how Birnie managed to withstand the test of time.

“This is a guy who was able to stay in the high-ranking hierarchy of multiple police chiefs, think about that. Most chiefs want to bring in their own people, but every single police chief since I’ve been here, that’s got to be five or six, have all fought to keep Collin Birnie in the high ranks of the police department,” Leyton said.

Birnie took on several different roles as the patrol bureau commander, tactical team commander, firearms instructor, and most notably, the bomb squad commander.

“His wealth of knowledge about everything, laws, union issues… bomb squad commander, just so intelligent dealing with explosives,” Antcliff said.

Birnie has been memorialized on every piece of equipment used by the department to diffuse a bomb. Each tool has been named after a member of his immediate family.

The department has also cemented a commemorative coin in the ground behind the department. It features a picture of Birnie on the front side.

“Birnie loved his job, you know. He enjoyed it. He could’ve actually retired four or five months prior to the incident but he stuck around just because he liked the job and something he wanted to see completed here at the police department,” Antcliff said.

Leyton said his job hasn’t been the same since Birnie’s death.

“I miss him greatly. I don’t have somebody I can pick up the phone and call like I had Collin. That’s a void that’s never going to be filled,” Leyton said.

Birnie’s family has filed a civil lawsuit against the teen’s family seeking damages of more than $25,000. The family’s attorney says it’s in the discovery stage of the lawsuit, but no amount of money awarded will bring Birnie back.

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