Dearborn Heights City Clerk Lynne Senia remembers fallen Police Cpl. Jason Makowski — who died in the line of duty May 25, 2006 — at the May 13 City Council meeting during National Police Week.
Dearborn Heights Police Cpl. Jason Makowski
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS – Police Officer Jason Makowski, who died in the line of duty May 25, 2006, was remembered at the May 13 City Council meeting during National Police Week.
National Police Week, recognized the week in which May 15 falls, is a time to honor and remember law enforcement officers who lost their lives in the line of duty.
City Clerk Lynne Senia read a tribute written about Makowski by Police Cpl. John Kelly at the beginning of the council meeting.
Makowski, who was born and raised in Dearborn Heights, was the son of a Dearborn Heights police detective. A maternal uncle and cousin were also Dearborn Heights police officers.
After Makowski graduated from Crestwood High School, he graduated the Wayne County Regional Police Academy at Schoolcraft College in 1995, and took a job with Grosse Pointe Park Public Safety until an opening became available in the Dearborn Heights Police Department.
While working full time as a police officer, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public administration from Madonna University.
Makowski had finished an overtime traffic detail May 24, 2006, when he heard a call on his police radio about a man shooting at garbage workers.
When he arrived at the scene, the responding officers were pinned down by gunfire, so Makowski, who was a trained Special Response Team officer, positioned himself in a backyard across the street from the threat to gain a tactical advantage.
When he tried to engage the shooter to stop the threat, the man shot him in the face. The man continued to shoot at other police officers, making it difficult for them to get to Makowski to extract him.
Eventually, officers from multiple jurisdictions were able to get Makowski to a waiting ambulance. He was taken to Garden City Hospital, then airlifted to University of Michigan Hospital, where he died the next day.
Makowski was 31 years old when he died, and had a 3-year-old son. He served 11 years with the Dearborn Heights Police Department, and is interred at St. Hedwig Cemetery.
Makowski has been described as smart and driven, and it has been said he would have likely risen through the ranks had not a gunman cut his life short.
Makowski is remembered for making the ultimate sacrifice to protect the city’s residents and his fellow police officers.