Charles A. Klug
- Cincinnati Police Officer Badge 673
- Greater Cincinnati Police Museum Sales Director
Charlie was born October 10, 1941 in Cincinnati. In 1968 and 1969, he worked part-time for Tri-State Private Police awaiting a fulltime police officer position to open in Cincinnati. On May 4, 1969, Charlie joined the Cincinnati Police Division as a Police Recruit. He was promoted to Patrolman on August 17, 1969, issued Badge 673, and assigned to District 2 (314 Broadway). His Patrolman Coach was Patrolmen Herbert W. Kohus, who also trained two other notable officers, Patrolman Edward W. Zieverink III and Police Officer Stephen R. Kramer.
Both Patromen Klug and Kohus transferred to District 1 (310 Lincoln Park Drive) when it absorbed District 2. At one point, all Kohus’s prodigies were working with him at night in Sector 6, the downtown business district. During 1973, a West End gang calling itself the Ace of Spades wreaked havoc in the Central Business District. Patrolman Klug and Specialist Lee Rarden were assigned to investigate the 45 assaults and robberies deemed connected to the gang. Within 5 weeks, more than a dozen members of the gang were arrested.
During 1975, Officers Zieverink and Klug joined the newly formed Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team and Officer Klug became its first sniper. Officers Klug and Kramer, on December 3, 1979, would go down in history as being intimately involved in the Who Concert tragedy. They were assigned to the doors where the youths perished, were the first notified of the deaths in the crowd and were responsible for the hazardous entry into the tightly packed crowd to save as many as they could. Sadly, they were too late.
By October 1980, Officers Klug, Kramer, and Zieverink had been transferred to District 3 (3201 Warsaw Avenue). Officerss Klug and Kramer were assigned to the same relief. On September 8, 1982, at 11:17 p.m., Officer Klug volunteered to cover Police Officer James Gary Weber on a report of a Criminal Damaging at the Whippy Dip at 2790 River Road. Upon arrival, the officers spoke to the complainant at the Whippy Dip. They then walked across the street to investigate the suspect’s abandoned vehicle. Noting that the car had a temporary license plate, Officer Weber opened the driver’s door to write down the vehicle identification number. Officer Klug held a flashlight on the tag. A Corvette, driven recklessly and high speed by a drunken driver, struck both officers.
Officer Weber was instantly killed. Officer Klug was knocked over the Malibu and landed on the sidewalk with fractures and injuries from his skull to his ankles. His legs were nearly amputated at the knees. A citizen, William Kelly, observed the accident, tuned to Channel 9 (emergency channel) on his Citizen’s Band radio, and called for assistance. He then helped James out of the now-burning Corvette and comforted Officer Klug as best he could until help arrived. Officer Kramer was one of the first on the scene and was tasked with notifying Officer Klug’s family and escorting Mrs. Klug to University Hospital.
After almost a year in the hospital and almost 4 years and numerous surgeries trying to get back into shape to work as a police officer, Officer Klug finally had no choice but to resign during November 1986. But, with a desire to continue his service, he returned to work as a Police Technician and earned a stellar reputation as a Desk Man in District 3 until leaving 2005.
Still not content to sit on his laurels, when the Greater Cincinnati Police Museum reopened in 2015 on Reading Road, he began volunteering there and soon took over the Gift Shop.
Officer Klug has endured 60+ surgeries since the accident, including another knee surgery in 2024. Dirt and infection in his body has remained during the intervening decades – sometimes dormant and sometimes flaring up. On July 13, 2015 Officer Klug had “minor” surgery on his left hand. His infections flared and by July 17, 2015 he was in the critical care unit at University Hospital with three types of infections coursing through his body, especially at his artificial joints and the hand. He endured two more surgeries, another one on his hand and one on his knee, to debride the infected tissue. He came away from these three surgeries with aspirational pneumonitis causing diminished lung function. He was sent home to recuperate for six months on intravenous antibiotics and oxygen. After two months the antibiotics were no longer overcoming the infection in his knee. On September 15, 2015 doctors cut yet again into his leg to remove and replace the artificial knee parts. Before long, after yet another near-death experience, Officer Klug returned to the Police Museum to run the Gift Shop. Charlie, Steve Kramer (Historian), and Ed Zieverink (Curator) can now be found there almost every Tuesday.
On May 5, 2017, 48 years after his first day in the Police Academy on Broadway, retired Police Officer Charles A. Klug was awarded the first ever Fraternal Order of Police “President’s Award” at the 50th Annual Hamilton County Law Enforcement Awards. He still serves at the Police Museum, 55 years after joining the Police Division.