Chad Alan Charles

Michigan Department of Corrections — Lansing, MI

Cardiac

End of Watch May 21, 2014

Age 42

Tour of Duty 9 yrs

The Vigil Panel 163 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 14

Incident

Correctional Officer Chad Charles suffered a fatal heart attack while participating in a quarterly training exercise with the agency's Emergency Response Team at Camp Grayling.

He collapsed during a building clearing scenario. Other members of the ERT team performed CPR until he was transported to a local hospital, where he passed away.

Officer Charles had served with the Michigan Department of Corrections for nine years and was assigned to the Muskegon Correctional Facility.

Survivors

He was survived by his seven children, father, fiancée, brother, sister, and grandson. He was survived by his seven children, father, fiancée, brother, sister, and grandson.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-MI-B23AE251
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.
Correctional Officer Charles gave the Michigan Department of Corrections 9 years.
Thank you for your service to the people of Michigan. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Correctional Officer Charles.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Michigan Department of Corrections

Location Lansing, MI

Platform Identity michcorr.ingham.mi.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch May 21, 2014

Tour of Duty 9 yrs

Age 42

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Cardiac

Correctional Officer Chad Alan Charles 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%.

At Michigan Department of Corrections, 1 of 15 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 6.7% of this agency's fallen.

Michigan Department of Corrections

of 15 officers

6.7% Cardiac

MI — Statewide

of 718 officers

5.4% Cardiac

Nationwide

1,306

of 32,508 officers

4% Cardiac