Roll of Honor
Incident
Patrolman Barden suffered a fatal heart attack shortly after responding to an emergency call at a restaurant. When he arrived at the scene of the call, he encountered a man suffering a heart attack, and he proceeded to work on the man for several minutes until medical units arrived. After returning to his vehicle, he began to feel ill and, knowing he was suffering a heart attack, requested that he be taken to Blodgett Memorial Medical Center. While being transported to the hospital, he suffered a second heart attack and died. Patrolman Barden had served with the Kentwood Police Department for eight years, was assigned to the E-Unit, and was the police department's first licensed EMT. He was responsible for creating the department's E-Unit.
Survivors
Patrolman Barden was survived by his wife and two children.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-MI-15B88043- 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.
Patrolman Barden gave the Kentwood Police Department 8 years.
Thank you for your service to the Kentwood community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Patrolman Barden.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Patrolman Lester J. Barden 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. Lester J. Barden's cause is highlighted.
How Lester J. Barden Compares
When Cardiac Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Cardiac deaths across the full memorial record. Lester J. Barden is highlighted in Jan.