'Humble hero' lost his leg saving a stranger

A former Minneapolis police officer who pushed a man out of the path of a drunken driver to safety has died 12 years after his leg was severed in that North Side collision.

David R. Loeffler, 36, an Aitkin County prosecutor, died Friday at his home in Aitkin from long-term complications from losing his leg, his family said Monday.

In March 1997, Loeffler, 24 years old and on the Minneapolis police force for just six months, and patrol partner Peter Hafstad stopped on Broadway near Bryant Avenue to help a drunken man who was staggering in traffic.

Loeffler approached the man and walked him to the front of the squad car. Hafstad stood on the boulevard, watching oncoming traffic.

But with a car barreling toward him, Loeffler shoved the drunken man to a snowbank and tried to leap onto the squad car's hood, but he was not quick enough. Loeffler was down -- dazed, his teeth chipped, his mouth swollen. Three feet away was the lower part of his right leg lying in the street.

Loeffler had a "kind of a humble hero attitude," said Hafstad, who still patrols the North Side as an officer. On the night of the accident, Loeffler "put himself in harm's way" and sacrificed a leg in order to save a life, his former partner said.

Hafstad and Loeffler entered cadet school at the same time and were in the same rookie class. They began patrolling together in late 1996, just months before what would be Loeffler's last shift as Hafstad's partner.

The loss of his leg changed every aspect of Loeffler's life. His marriage plans collapsed. The dedicated runner could run no more, and he had to give up riding his motorcycle.

Loeffler went through "a lot of pain, physical pain from losing a leg" and endured a "mental grind" from difficulties getting an artificial leg to fit properly, Hafstad said.

The two stayed in regular contact once Loeffler moved to Aitkin County, and Hafstad could tell that he "missed the cop shop, but [prosecuting] still gave him a piece of the action. He could really help out victims up there."

Loeffler grew up in Minneapolis, graduated from the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield and earned a degree in law enforcement from Mankato State University. He started with the Minneapolis Police Department in September 1995. He left the force in November 2002, having served on the Organized Crime Unit and the Minnesota Gang Strike Force.

After earning his law degree from William Mitchell School of Law in St. Paul, Loeffler served in the Minnesota attorney general's office for several years before joining the Aitkin County attorney's office in early 2008.

'A very tough time'

The motorist who hit Loeffler, Rodney A. Coleman, was driving after his license had been suspended. His blood-alcohol level that night was measured at 0.126 percent, well above the legal limit for driving. A month later, Coleman pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison.

Rob Allen, now Minneapolis' deputy police chief and a longtime member of the force, remembers Loeffler as "everything we wanted our police officers to be. He never got any complaints."

The time following the crash "was very tough for him," Allen said, but Loeffler found a way to still "be on the side of the cops" by working in the attorney general's office and then prosecuting cases in Aitkin County.

Loeffler joined the Aitkin County attorney's office in February 2008, said County Attorney Jim Ratz, and prosecuted felony cases.

Ratz described Loeffler as a "dedicated prosecutor, with genuine compassion for the victims on his cases. He had a personality that worked well in the office. ... He will be missed as a friend and a colleague."

The Minneapolis Police Department will send a full honor guard to services for Loeffler.

Loeffler is survived by his parents, Joanne and Dick Loeffler; stepmother Madonna Loeffler; sister Tammi Rodriguez; brother Chad Loeffler; half-brother Paul, and half-sister Renee.

"He was just a humble, compassionate, generous person, almost to a fault," Chad Loeffler, 34, said of his older brother. "He kept surpassing every challenge that came forth and moving forward."

Visitation is scheduled for 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Washburn-McReavy Edina Chapel, 3996 W. 50th St. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday, with visitation one hour before, at the Church of St. Richard, 7540 Penn Av. S., Richfield.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482