Toledo Police Department, Ohio
End of Watch: Thursday, January 21, 1915
Age: 34
Tour of Duty: 4 years
Badge Number: Not available
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: January 21, 1915
Weapon Used: Handgun; .38 caliber
Suspect Info: Sentenced to life
Detective Kaiser Bartecki was shot and killed as he and several other officers attempted to arrest a man who had tried to murder a woman earlier in the day.
The man had met the woman 6 weeks earlier in New York City, New York, and had become obsessed with her. He had proposed to her several times and was rejected each time. After following the woman to Toledo and being turned down again, he shot the woman three times, seriously wounding her. The woman later died. Detective Bartecki and two other officers located the man about an hour later at 324 Kosciusko Street in Toldeo. Detective Bartecki chased him around the back of the home, where he was shot once in the chest and killed.
The suspect fled the scene but was apprehended at a railroad depot a short time later while trying to buy a ticket back to New York. He was charged with first-degree murder.
The 32-year-old suspect was convicted of Detective Bartecki's murder and sentenced to death. On February 9, 1916, his sentence was commuted to life. Soon afterward, he started showing signs of insanity and was transferred to the Lima State Mental Hospital.
Detective Bartecki had served with the Toledo Police Department for four years. He was survived by his wife and son.