Detective Curtis Clive Hagele of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Special Investigations Section was killed on March 10, 1980, in Manhattan Beach during a surveillance operation targeting a suspected bank robbery team. The SIS unit had positioned around the suspects’ car while a man and a woman were under observation for an alleged plan to rob the American Savings and Loan. After the male suspect left the bank with about $1,500, officers moved to arrest him; he ran and fired at officers as he fled.

Hagele pursued the suspect up a flight of stairs toward a parking structure’s upper deck and was struck by gunfire in the exchange; the fleeing suspect was killed moments later by simultaneous shotgun blasts from officers. An investigation concluded Hagele was hit accidentally by fellow officers; no arrests or charges were filed. He had served 17 years with LAPD and left a wife and two children.

If anyone has memories of Detective Hagele or information about that operation, please share what is known.