Slain Officer’s Gentle Spirit Remembered : Funeral: Friends and colleagues pack church to eulogize Fidel Aleman, who was shot after a confrontation on the freeway.

A California Highway Patrol officer who was shot to death last week after a freeway confrontation was eulogized Tuesday as a man whose “kindness and gentle spirit will be remembered by everybody who came in contact with him.”

Fidel Aleman, 33, of Whittier was shot in the chest Thursday after he stepped out of his car to confront the driver of a pickup truck who had cut him off on the freeway a few miles earlier.

In his eulogy, Raul Duran, a fellow officer and longtime friend, described Aleman as “quiet and reserved, but he quickly distinguished himself by excelling in officer safety. He loved his job and his fellow officers loved him.”

CHP Commissioner M.J. Hannigan, one of several high-ranking officials at Aleman’s funeral at Grace Chapel in Inglewood Park Cemetery, said after the services that Aleman’s murder “was just a senseless act. It’s an individual loss that leaves a gap in the line of defense (against crime) that will never be filled.”

Hannigan said Aleman “stood with the few who have the strength and tenacity to hold the line against those who would destroy our society.”

Mourners packed the small, hilltop chapel. About 600 officers from law enforcement agencies throughout the state stood at attention outside, listening to the services over outdoor speakers. Some fought back tears.

Aleman was shot as he drove to work at the Central Los Angeles CHP station with his fiancee, who is also a CHP officer, detectives said. On the Pomona Freeway, he flashed his headlights at the driver of a pickup truck who had cut him off.

The pickup truck driver tailed the officer, at times with his high-beam headlights on, to the Santa Monica Freeway’s Pico Boulevard off-ramp. After leaving the freeway, Aleman stopped his car on Pico and stepped out. The pickup pulled up alongside, the driver pointed a shotgun through the passenger window and opened fire.

Aleman’s fiancee rushed him to the California Medical Center-Los Angeles, where he died of a gunshot wound to the chest a short time later, detectives said.

“It started out with kind of a simple confrontation on the freeway and wound up with this poor young man being shot to death on the side of the road,” CHP Southern Division Chief Edward Gomez said after the services. He appealed to the public for help in capturing Aleman’s killer.

“Someone saw what happened that night,” he said. “I know it. They need to come forward and help us.”

He said anyone with information should call the CHP at (213) 736-3374 or investigators assigned to the LAPD Major Crimes Section at (213) 485-2129.

Detectives released a sketch of the gunman, who was described as Latino with curly hair, about 35 to 40 years old. The gunman was driving a late model blue Toyota or Nissan pickup truck with a white camper shell and distinctive blue trim on the sides, police said. Investigators have partially identified the license plate as including “3J33.”

In his eulogy for Aleman on Tuesday, the Rev. Mauro Duran said he did not understand why the officer got out of his car to confront the driver. The answer, he added, was not really important anymore.

“It was part of God’s plan,” said Duran, the brother of Officer Raul Duran.

CHP Officer Anthony Gubler, 30, walked from the chapel after the services in dark glasses, shaken by the loss. Gubler said he and Aleman were classmates at the CHP Academy in 1984.

“Fidel was an inspiration to everyone,” he said. “Even back then he took the job seriously. He kept everyone together. If we were slipping, he would pull us up, encourage us. We were just young kids and didn’t know anything. We didn’t even know how to march. He had been in the Marines and he taught us.”

Aleman was divorced and the father of two girls, Jessica, 6, and Jasmine, 3. He served all seven years of his CHP career in the Central Los Angeles station.

He is also survived by his parents, Erasmo and Zoraida Aleman; two older brothers, Rick Cerezo and Frank Aleman, and two younger sisters, Margaret Smith and Nelly Carlise.