For Some of the Actors, Movie About Officer’s Death Is Hauntingly Real

Masih Modani, surrounded by a film crew at an Inglewood street corner, was experiencing for the third time the nightmarish day in which a .44 magnum was put to his head, his car and money were taken and a police officer died at his side.

The actual event unfolded on March 31, 1988, when Sgt. George Aguilar picked up Modani, a gas station money courier, at the robbery scene and began chasing the suspects. Modani was in the passenger seat of Aguilar’s unmarked car when Aguilar--the first Inglewood police officer ever killed in the line of duty--cried out, “I’ve been shot!”

Last year, Modani relived that day during months of testimony at the trials of the defendants. From the witness stand, he described again and again the holdup, the chase and Aguilar’s fateful cry.

Earlier this week, Modani found himself back at the corner of La Brea Avenue and Arbor Vitae Street where Aguilar met his death. Once again, Modani rode in a speeding Trans Am. Once again, he heard shots ring out.

This time, however, a director standing in the middle of the intersection yelled, “Cut!” The chase ended. The fleeing suspects obediently turned around.

A feature-length documentary is being filmed in Inglewood about Aguilar, a Mexican immigrant who rose from a tough East Los Angeles street gang member to a respected law officer.

Produced by Martin Green and Glenn Bruce, the film is titled after Aguilar’s police code name, “Victor One,” which he had called out frantically over the radio during the chase. Bruce, who wrote the film, said a portion of the profits will go to a trust fund for Aguilar’s 6-year-old son and other money will be used for police anti-drug and gang programs.

What makes the movie unusual, Bruce said, is that Modani, the courier who was robbed, and the original police officers who responded to the scene will play themselves in the re-creation. Actors are portraying Aguilar and the five accomplices, four of whom are serving sentences for murder. The fifth killed himself.

“Police movies are made all the time, but cops notice the inaccuracies,” said Inglewood Lt. William Brown, a technical adviser for the film. “We’re trying to be as accurate in this as possible. Whenever possible, we’re using the actual locations, the actual people. This is the way it happened.”

The documentary mixes interviews with Aguilar’s colleagues and re-enactments of the events leading up to his death. It portrays Aguilar as an aggressive officer who worked on the narcotics and SWAT teams, a humorous man who performed imitations of Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd at police headquarters and an adventurer who loved sky-diving and cross-country bike racing.

The independently financed film, produced by Green’s M & S Entertainment, has not yet been sold, but the producers are aiming for cable television and foreign venues, especially in Spanish-speaking markets.

The Inglewood Police Department had begun work on an in-house training film on Aguilar’s death when Green heard the story and suggested that the police team up with his movie company. Officers have volunteered their time as supporting cast members.

Modani called the filming a hair-raising experience.

“I know the real thing isn’t happening, but I’m reliving every feeling and emotion I had at that point.”

Fellow police officers who responded to Aguilar’s desperate calls that day have had to re-create scenes they say they have replayed in their minds repeatedly since their colleague’s death.

During filming last week, one scene was cut short when a police officer stared in shock at an actor’s artificially bloodied body instead of following the director’s instructions and rushing forward to pull him from the wreck.

“I think this film is a catharsis,” Brown said. “George was someone special. We want people to be aware how much we loved him. With this movie, something good is going to come from something bad.”

Officer William Cross, one of those who pulled Aguilar from his car and took him to the hospital on that day in 1988, said the filming has captured the drama of the event. He said Danny Trejo, who portrays Aguilar, is the spit and image of the fallen sergeant.

“It’s really traumatic,” Cross said. “I start dredging up feelings like, ‘Why did it happen to a guy like George?’ ”

Trejo, who has appeared in “Lock Up” and “Drug Wars: The Camarena Story,” said he notices the emotional looks officers give him on and off camera.

“I try to stay on the sidelines,” he said. “When Aguilar’s old friends see me, a lot of them get choked up and turn away.”