Watch: Police officer’s badge returned to department 127 years after his death

Jan. 26 (UPI) — A Minnesota police officer’s badge was returned to his department 127 years after he was killed in the line of duty, officials said.

Hastings Police Chief Bryan Schafer said Officer Albert Jacobson became the department’s only officer ever to be slain in the line of duty when he was shot and killed while pursuing a burglary suspect in 1894.

“They got one person in custody and they had encountered the second one,” Schafer told WCCO-TV. “A foot pursuit ensued, and the suspect turned around and fired some gunshots at Albert and his partner.”

Schafer said he met Gloria Hagestuen, Jacobson’s great-granddaughter, in 2017, and she gave him what is now the department’s only photo of the slain officer.

Schafer said Hagestuen reached out to him a few weeks ago to give him Jacobson’s badge. Hagestuen said a second cousin had found the badge while going through a chest in her attic.

“What can you say? This is a piece of history 130 years old,” Schafer said. “It’s got a lot more sentimental value and means a lot more than anything we could produce today.”

The city of Hastings said in a Facebook post that the badge is believed to be one of the first ones issued by the department.

Schafer said the badge will form the centerpiece of a museum dedicated to the department’s history.