Twenty-one years ago on this date, Police Officer Dale Ten Haken was fatally shot in the parking lot of a northeast side Manitowoc apartment complex. Manitowoc police chief Nick Reimer spoke with SeehaferNew.com recently on patrolman Ten Haken, who was killed during a traffic stop at the Reed Avenue Apartments late on the night of September 23rd, 1998. Reimer spoke about the sacrifice Ten Haken gave for the safety of the community, saying “We never want to forget, and always appreciate the sacrifices he has given, and his family has given. They had to live their lives without him.”
Ten Haken was only 27 years old at the time of his death and had served on the police force for five years. Reimer said he thinks about Dale all the time, and that he tries to honor him by “living my life to the fullest, and understanding that if he was here, he would be doing the same.”
Two then juvenile suspects, Jason Halda and Michael Watts were arrested early the following morning in Sheboygan County. Halda, identified as the shooter, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole while Watts, his accomplice, was ordered to spend 22-years behind bars.
