Officer David Loeffler

Officer David Richard Loeffler was killed May 29, 2009 at the age of 36 from injuries sustained 12 years earlier when he was struck by a drunk driver.

Officer Loeffler grew up in Minneapolis and graduated from the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield. He earned a degree in Law Enforcement from Mankato State University. He then began working for the Minneapolis Police Department in September 1995.

After working in the Organized Crime Unit and the Minnesota Gang Strike Force, he left the Police Department in November 2002.

Officer Loeffler earned a law degree from William Mitchell School of Law in St. Paul and served in the Minnesota Attorney General’s office and then in the Aitkin County Attorney’s office.

On March 15th, 1997 Loeffler and his partner were attempting to help a drunk man cross the street when he was struck by a car operated by another drunk driver. His leg was severed in the incident. He succumbed to the injuries sustained that night 12 years later at the age of 36.

Loeffler’s partner, Peter Hafstad, who was with him the night of the incident, said Officer Loeffler had a “kind of a humble hero attitude” and acknowledged that he put himself in harm’s way to save a life.

Loeffler is survived by family members, and his brother described him as a “humble, compassionate, generous person, almost to a fault.”