Television Show Seeks to Re-Create CHP Slayings : Crime: Four officers were gunned down at a roadside cafe in Newhall 24 years ago. The incident changed police procedures.

It has been called the worst of tragedies for the California Highway Patrol, and now some of the survivors are re-creating it for television.

Twenty-four years ago, four highway patrolmen were gunned down and killed at a roadside cafe in Newhall. The incident changed the way CHP officers go about their business.

Harry Ingold, 50, now a police sergeant in West Los Angeles, was a CHP officer in 1970. He arrived at the roadside cafe moments after two men shot the four officers and fled just after midnight on April 6. Now Ingold is helping to re-enact the incident for “Real Stories of the Highway Patrol.”

“They’re not asking me for help, but they’re willing to listen,” said Ingold, who is playing the same role for television that he did 24 years ago. “If I find a problem, they’ll usually listen and readily correct it.”

Ingold said that reliving the events of the shooting has been difficult, but he has no regrets about being part of the filming.

“It’s been fun to be here, even though it brings out some vivid memories,” he said.

“Real Stories” filmed the seven-minute episode last week at an abandoned gas station on California 126, about 12 miles west of where the slayings took place. Almost all of the parts, except for the suspects, were played by law enforcement officers.

“They’re better than actors for this particular role,” said Mark Massari, the show’s executive producer. “They live it every day of their lives and they know instinctively how to react in these situations.”

Killed in the 1970 incident were officers Walter C. Fargo, 23; George M. Alleyn, 24; James E. Pence Jr., 25; and Roger D. Gore, 23. All were married and were fathers.

The incident began just before midnight when Jack Twining, 35, and Bobby Augusta Davis, 29, brandished guns at a motorist on Interstate 5 near Gorman, according to an official account published by the CHP. The motorist reported the incident to the CHP, and Gore and Frago went to investigate.

The two officers spotted Davis and Twining in a car parked outside J’s Coffee Shop on what is now the Old Road, near the intersection of Magic Mountain Parkway. The officers approached the car and began questioning the men.

Without warning, Frago was shot twice in the chest with a .357 magnum and died instantly. Gore was killed seconds later when two shots from a .38-caliber revolver hit him in the chest.

Pence and Alleyn arrived soon afterward and a gun battle ensued as diners ducked for cover. The officers were killed within a few minutes and Twining and Davis escaped.

Twining broke into a home near the Newhall CHP station and briefly took a man inside hostage, but committed suicide when officers stormed the house using tear gas. Davis stole a camper and tried to flee to the Antelope Valley on San Francisquito Canyon Road, but sheriff’s deputies captured him.

Davis is serving a life sentence on a murder conviction at the state prison in Corcoran.

The killings changed the way CHP and many other law enforcement agencies conduct felony traffic stops, said CHP Officer Tom Dailey, who was on duty the morning of the shootings. He was called in to work at 2 a.m. and directed traffic away from the house where Twining had barricaded himself.

“One of the problems on this incident was both officers approached the vehicle at the same time,” he said. “That’s not the case anymore. A lot of times if it’s a high-risk suspect, neither of the officers will approach.”