A Pella police officer shot and killed while on-duty is being honored in Pella on the 36th anniversary of his death.

John Ernest Van Haaften served for just over two years at the department when he was killed during an undercover drug bust in Knoxville on April 9th, 1980.

Retired Police Sergeant Alvin Olivier says he hasn’t forgotten what happened that day as he rushed to the scene when hearing on the radio that Van Haaften had been shot.
“As I got to the residence, I exited my car, and I ran toward the house,” Olivier said. “As I arrived to the door that Officer Van Haaften had entered, I met him at the door, and he more or less stumbled in to my arms–and probably more or less died in my arms as we went to the ground together.”

Van Haaften is annually honored with a memorial in front of the police station and a scholarship through Dollars for Scholars.