Macomb County Medical Examiner In Hot Seat
Macomb County's Medical Examiner Daniel Spitz's future with the county has yet to be determined. That's according to County Commissioner Don Brown, who called on Spitz to explain comments he made to the media following revelations that he missed a gunshot that killed a missing banker.
"He threw us under the bus, in terms of blaming it on lack of equipment as for the reason he made his mistake -- and that's the wrong response. And, he admitted it today that it wasn't the lack of equipment. The county has outstanding equipment, he just chose not to use it," Brown told reporters.
"He didn't do all the procedures he could have used to do an appropriate investigation that would realize the true cause of death," Brown said.
Spitz, Wednesday, told the County Board of Commissioners that reports he missed the gunshot would that killed Mt. Clemens bank CEO David Widlak were misrepresented in the media.
"And I regret that, as a result of that, the county and the commissioners have faces unnecessary criticism," Spitz said. "The Macomb County Medical Examiner's Office is an excellent facility, and is fully equipped with first-rate equipment," he said.
However, Spitz also assured commissioners that he has made changes to correct what went wrong during Widlak's autopsy.
An independent autopsy, paid for by Widlak's family, found the gunshot wound in the man's badly decomposed body.
Widlak, 62, of Grosse Pointe Farms, had been missing since September 19th when his body was found late last month in shallow waters of Lake St. Clair.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
