Jacob Roesler

Sergeant Roesler died on the morning of Friday 16 October 2026, at the age of 26, in the line of duty. According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, at about 6:37 a.m. he was travelling south on State Route 51 in a Ford Explorer police cruiser with its emergency lights on, responding to a separate crash. As the cruiser entered the intersection with State Route 795, about two miles outside Millbury in Ottawa County, it was struck by a Chevrolet Tahoe. Both vehicles went off the south-east corner of the intersection; the cruiser struck a metal pole and the Tahoe struck a utility pole, cutting power to the area. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The other driver, a 41-year-old man from Perrysburg, was taken by ambulance to ProMedica Bay Park Hospital with minor injuries.

The patrol's Sandusky Post is investigating the crash and has not said what caused it, and no charges had been announced. The Clay Township Police Department announced his death on Facebook, and Governor Mike DeWine ordered U.S. and Ohio flags lowered to half-staff throughout Ottawa County and at the Ohio Statehouse, the Vern Riffe Center and the Rhodes State Office Tower until sunset on the day of his funeral.

A visitation was arranged for Wednesday 21 October 2026, from 2:00 to 7:00 p.m., at Walter Funeral Home on Glendale Avenue in Toledo. The funeral service was set for 9:00 a.m. on Thursday 22 October 2026 at the Liberty Aviation Museum in Port Clinton, followed by a family procession with escort.

Jacob Patrick Roesler was born on 2 June 2000 and grew up in Monclova, a township in Lucas County, Ohio, just outside Toledo. He graduated from Anthony Wayne High School in 2019.

He went on to the Owens Community College Police Academy, from which he graduated in 2023, the year he began his police career.

Roesler joined the Clay Township Police Department in Ottawa County, Ohio, in 2023 and served there for three years. He had recently taken on the role of sergeant. His obituary said he was working his dream job, serving alongside his best friend, Chief Martin.

He received the Chief's Award for Meritorious Conduct for exemplary service and bravery. In its statement after his death, the department said he had a deep commitment to protecting and serving others. Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said he had served the Clay Township community honorably and with unwavering dedication throughout his three years with the department.

His family wrote that beyond the badge Jacob loved his family and friends fiercely, along with his dog, Gus. In his spare time he could be found welding in the garage, working on his cars, fishing on the Maumee River or sitting in a deer stand, and he never hesitated to lend a hand to a loved one, colleague, neighbour or stranger.

He was survived by his mother, Lori Roesler, his father, Chip Roesler, his sister, Samantha (Tyler) Wyckhouse, his grandmothers, Kathy Roman and Sue Roesler, and aunts, uncles and cousins.

News of his death drew tributes from law enforcement agencies and community groups across north-west Ohio, among them the Ottawa County, Sandusky County and Lucas County sheriff's offices, the Danbury Township and Oak Harbor police departments, St. John's UCC in Genoa and Ohio Auditor Keith Faber. The Ottawa County Sheriff's Office said it would help cover shifts for the township, and an Officer Down Memorial Page was opened in his honour. In its funeral notice the department asked the public to join in honouring him and supporting his family, describing him as a brother who had made the ultimate sacrifice.

His death came just over a mile from where another Clay Township officer, William Hetrick, was killed on State Route 51 about 25 years earlier, a stretch of road later dedicated in Hetrick's memory.