Local Veteran & Retired Officer Finds Healing & Purpose Through Writing & Comedy
Photographer / Amy Payne
Hendricks County residents have likely run into Pete Fleck over the years — even if they didn’t know it. He served in the U.S. Army for 24 years before becoming a police officer, primarily with the Brownsburg Police Department, beginning in 1990.
He loves being involved in the community, serving with the Brownsburg police and fire department’s summer youth program, teaching self-defense classes and working with men in addiction recovery.
That’s perhaps why the pandemic — and the response to it — hit him so hard.
“I was in public relations with the police department at the time, and when we were locked down, I really went into a state of depression,” Fleck says. “I think I drank for four days, my career was under fire, I wasn’t able to visit with family. On the fifth day, I woke up and was furious with myself. I’m never going to have time like this again, so I might as well make the most of it. I dumped the booze and began a strict, regimented schedule.”
The schedule consisted of piano lessons, playing chess, practicing Spanish, writing comedy and plenty of reading.
His stand-up comedy routines span from G-rated to R, and he tries to mold them for the audience and environment.
Fleck has put guests at wedding receptions in stitches, and he’s provided a moment of laughter for inmates at the Marion County Jail, to name a few.
“Most of my humor is projected at myself. I don’t use F-bombs because I consider that to be lazy,” Fleck says. “I like giving people something to laugh about today.”
The other unexpected thing Fleck picked up during the pandemic was writing.
“I started writing a story that was beautiful and powerful, and I was just in a writing frenzy,” he says. “When I was finished, I gave it to my harshest critic — my buddy who absolutely hates fiction. After he read it, he said, ‘We’ve got to find you an editor.’ He gets all of my books first (there are three to date), and he has such great input. When I sent him my third book, he said, ‘This might be the greatest thing you’ve ever written.’”
“Caged” was self-published in fall 2023. It’s about a Nevada deputy called to the scene of a fatal accident and the struggles he has with handling the tragedies he often sees, a young woman and her son leaving an abusive relationship, and a young man struggling with a lifetime of bad decisions.
When their lives merge, the main characters are faced with tough choices that could make or break them.
“I used my own experience in part,” Fleck says. “I once worked two fatality accidents in Brownsburg in one afternoon, but I also knew this was a troubling time for a lot of people, and I wanted to write something uplifting.”
His second novel is titled “Angel Templar,” about a former Army Ranger medic coming to grips with the violence he’s seen over the years and finding himself in an active-shooter situation.
“Before They Were Monsters” came next, and instead of an action/drama/romance plot, Fleck went with a dark suspense thriller. He plans to publish his fourth — a coming-of-age story — in 2026.
“I’ve been absolutely loving it,” he says. “When I was writing my second book, I chose to retire from the police department. I felt like my career had hit a peak. I had done pretty much everything I wanted to do. I wasn’t excited to leave, but it just felt like it was time to pursue other things. Now, I’m doing book presentations with the Kiwanis Clubs and attending vendor events with my books. I told myself I wanted to reach one million people, not necessarily one million dollars. My dopamine is when someone emails me and says they couldn’t put it down.”
There’s plenty of positive feedback. Fleck has been told, “You’re now my favorite author,” and he once bet a young woman at a vendor fair that if she didn’t like his book in the first few chapters, she could return it for free.
An hour later, she returned with her money for the book after reading just two chapters.
It’s that kind of response that prompts Fleck to continue down the path of writing and publishing. He knows he’s making a difference in more ways than one.
Fleck is still teaching a philosophy class at the Marion County Jail. He’s still working with men in addiction recovery, and he’s finding a way to process his career and personal experiences by connecting with readers.
“The writing brings me peace,” he says. “I’m able to take dark moments of my life and bring them into an awesome piece of fiction. People love it, and they relate to it. I can picture myself writing until the day I die. I’ve got a file of future book ideas. There are at least 20, with a series I want to do too.”
Fleck’s novels are available on Amazon, or you can find him at his next book event by liking him on Facebook or emailing petefleck922@outlook.com.
