American Legion Honors Officer Who Led Cipriano Investigation

Detective Michael Flatt, the Farmington Hills Police officer who led the investigation into the violent 2012 attack on the Cipriano family, was honored Tuesday as the American Legion Groves-Walker Post's 2013 Officer of the Year. 

"Mike had to take it from beginning to end," Police Chief Chuck Nebus said, including everything from dealing with the gruesome crime scene to attending to the family's needs.

In the end, Tucker Cipriano pleaded guilty and Mitchell Young was found guilty at trial in the beating death of Tucker's father Robert Cipriano and attacks on his mother Rose and brother Salvatore. "Mike did everything right," Nebus said. 

Hired as a cadet in 1998, Flatt was promoted to police officer in 1999 and, in 2003, was assigned to the Investigative Division, where he has been serving as a detective for the past 10 years.

In 2012, Flatt received a citation after intervening in a situation where a man was being pursued by another man who was armed with a baseball bat. After stopping them, Flatt determined the man being pursued had just committed a home invasion in a neighboring city. He was arrested and turned over to the neighboring police department.

"I'm proud to be a member of the Farmington Hills Police Department," Flatt said during the ceremony. "We have one of the best departments in the state ... if not the country."