Roll of Honor
Incident
Deputy Dankert suffered a fatal heart attack shortly after struggling with a suspect. He was able to take the man into custody but collapsed moment later. Deputy Dankert had served with the Saginaw County Sheriff's Department for 8 years.
Survivors
He was survived by his wife and two children.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-MI-BC7FE959- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 2, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Deputy Sheriff Dankert gave the Saginaw County Sheriff's Department 8 years.
Thank you for your service to the Saginaw community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Deputy Sheriff Dankert.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Deputy Sheriff Ernest J. Dankert is one of 1,306 officers lost to cardiac events in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 4% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In MI, 39 of 718 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 5.4% of this state's fallen. That is 1.4 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.
National Cause Distribution
How Cardiac compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Ernest J. Dankert's cause is highlighted.
How Ernest J. Dankert Compares
When Cardiac Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Cardiac deaths across the full memorial record. Ernest J. Dankert is highlighted in Aug.