AG Says No To Runestad’s Call For Investigation

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 07/22/2025) The Attorney General’s office will not conduct an investigation of Michigan State Police Lt. Col. Aimee Brimacombe’s use of her state-issued vehicle as Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) had requested.

In a July 7 letter, which MIRS received Tuesday, Danielle Hagaman-Clark, the department’s criminal justice bureau chief, said Runestad’s comparison of Brimacombe’s situation to that of a former state employee, Rufus Chappell, convicted of embezzlement “are unwarranted.”

“The facts alleged against Lt. Col. Brimacombe are not similar in nature to those as proven beyond a reasonable doubt against Mr. Chappell,” Hagaman-Clark wrote. “… The comparison between the two is simply a flawed narrative that doesn’t hold upon inspection of the facts.”

Those facts, according to Hagaman-Clark’s letter, are that Brimacombe’s total mileage alleged in Runestad’s letter is less than 10,000 over several months and during a period in which she had been assigned a department vehicle for her use.

However, Chappell, who was an examiner with the Talent Economic and Development/Talent Investment Agency and who had a suspended driver’s license, made 168 motor pool vehicle reservations, including for 889 days when he had no legitimate business reason.

Between Aug. 27, 2015, and Jan. 17, 2019, Chappell also checked out multiple vehicles 142 times, and had 94 days over weekends and 34 days over a holiday. He had also driven nearly 176,000 miles total, according to the letter, which notes that the vehicle usage fees/rental costs plus mileage totaled $47,214.

Runestad, minority vice chair of the Senate Committee on Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety, accused Attorney General Dana Nessel of having a “double standard” for not investigating Brimacombe, who appeared to put thousands of miles on a state vehicle for personal use, when she secured a conviction against Chappell, who was sentenced to three years’ probation and $47,214 in restitution for embezzlement for using state vehicles for personal use.

In 2021, Brimacombe faced internal discipline for using an MSP vehicle for personal use during a six-month period, and for being “insubordinate” when she refused to immediately return the vehicle.

Runestad’s call for an investigation came amid a no-confidence vote by the MSP troopers and command officers associations against both Brimacombe and MSP Director Col. James F. Grady II

Republican lawmakers have called for Grady and Brimacombe to resign or retire, while Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has said she supports Grady, whom she appointed in September 2023.