Chief of Police Daniel J. Hayes

Daniel J. Hayes

Chief of Police Daniel Hayes was shot and killed while attempting to arrest a suspect.

He had been summoned by the suspect's father who had asked Chief Hayes to arrest the man for discharging a pistol in a saloon. Chief Hayes located the man near the Railroad Hotel in the downtown area. As he attempted to arrest the man a struggle ensued and Chief Hayes was shot in the stomach.

Chief Hayes succumbed to his injuries four days later. The suspect was found guilty of his murder and executed in 1882.

Chief Hayes became the first police chief of Ansonia when the police department was created earlier that year. He was survived by his wife and three children. He was a Union Civil War Veteran having served as a private with the 3rd Connecticut Light Artillery Battery from September, 1864, until the end of the war in 1865.