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Police Officer

Henry DeKeersgieter

St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department — St. Louis, MO

Felonious

End of Watch March 22, 1936

Age 53

Tour of Duty 18 yrs

The Vigil Panel 71 ›

Gender Male

Incident Media Service The Sacrifice Memorials 1 Department 175

Incident

Police Officer Henry DeKeersgieter succumbed to a stab wound received nine days earlier after arresting a man for auto theft. He had observed the man attempting to steal the car on LaSalle Street and took him into custody. He walked the suspect to a call box at Grattan and Chouteau. As he called the incident in the man suddenly produced a razor and cut Officer DeKeersgieter's neck before fleeing. Officer DeKeersgieter was able to shoot twice at the suspect before collapsing. Officer DeKeersgieter was treated at a hospital and released after four days. However, as a result of the wound he contracted septic pneumonia and died at his home. The suspect was apprehended three days after the attack in Memphis,Tennessee, and charged with murder. The suspect, 20, in and out of prison and reformatory schools since he was 12, was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and sentenced to 20 years. The murder charge was dismissed because it could not be determined if the razor attack actually caused his death. He was paroled at some point after 1940. On June 12, 1952, he and five other men were arrested in St. Louis for several burglaries and cracking several safes. Officer DeKeersgieter had been with the agency for 18 years and was survived by his wife and two children. His wife was a professional swimmer. In August of 1938 she became one of a very few people who ever swam the Mississippi River from Alton, Illinois, to St. Lewis, a distance of 23 miles.

Survivors

Officer DeKeersgieter had been with the agency for 18 years and was survived by his wife and two children.

In Our Keeping

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Added to badge.nw: August 2, 2026
Last updated: August 2, 2026

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Tributes

I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Police Officer DeKeersgieter gave the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department 18 years.
Thank you for your service to the St. Louis community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Police Officer DeKeersgieter.

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

Agency

Department St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department

Type Police Department

Location St. Louis, City of Saint Louis, MO

Platform Identity stlopd.saintlouis.mo.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch March 22, 1936

Tour of Duty 18 yrs

Age 53

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Felonious

Weapon Edged weapon

The Sacrifice · Felonious

Henry is one of 15,743 officers killed feloniously in the United States, 57.1% of the 27,551 remembered there.

34,117 officers are remembered on this memorial. Each number below is one of them.

Compare against

Time

In 1936, 136 officers in the United States were killed feloniously, the 31st heaviest of 213 years on record. The heaviest was 1921, with 248.

Every year on record · United States

Who

Henry was 53. Of the 14,220 killed feloniously in the United States whose age is recorded, half were between 31 and 47; the middle age was 38. Henry had served 18 years; the middle length of service was 6 years.

Age at death

Where he stood among them

Age by years of service

III

When

March holds 7.5% of these deaths in the United States; December holds the most, 9.4%. Sundays: 15.2%.

By month

By day of the week

How

Felonious deaths account for 57.1% of all 27,551 deaths in the United States, the most common cause. The weapon recorded was edged weapon, in 2.2% of these deaths.

Every cause

Weapons recorded