Roll of Honor
Incident
Chief of Police August Haase suffered a fatal heart attack a short time after struggling with a subject he was attempting to arrest.
The local justice of the peace had issued a warrant for the man for public drunkenness and asked Chief Haase to arrest him. The subject resisted when Chief Haase arrested him, causing the chief to overexert himself. Chief Haase continued his duties and later that evening was talking with one of his officers when he suddenly collapsed in his chair.
The justice of the peace sentenced to the subject to the maximum 60 days in jail for public drunkenness but was not able to charge him in connection with the chief's death.
Chief Haase had served with teh Fairmont Police Department for three years and had previously served with the Martin County Sheriff's Office.
Survivors
He was survived by his wife, four children, and two sisters.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-MN-F74EBF17- 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.
Police Chief Haase gave the Fairmont Police Department 3 years.
Thank you for your service to the Fairmont community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Police Chief Haase.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Police Chief August William "Gus" Haase 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 MN, 26 of 293 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 8.9% of this state's fallen. That is 4.9 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.
National Cause Distribution
How Cardiac compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. August William "Gus" Haase's cause is highlighted.
How August William "Gus" Haase Compares
When Cardiac Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Cardiac deaths across the full memorial record. August William "Gus" Haase is highlighted in Oct.