The Washington State Patrol’s twenty-third fallen officer died from injuries sustained in a collision with a semi-truck while the trooper was responding to a separate collision scene.

Trooper Clifford R. Hansell was originally from Milton, Florida and moved to Illinois before joining the Army as a member of an Airborne Ranger Unit. Married and a stepfather, “Cliff” as he was known by friends and family, was killed at the age of 25, just six months after being commissioned. A young man with a life before him, he was suddenly gone.

BIO

Born on August 1, 1961, in Milton, Florida, Cliff Hansell and his family eventually moved to Illinois where he graduated from Arcola High School. At the age of 20, Hansell enlisted in the United States Army serving three years as a member of an Airborne Ranger Unit.

The desire to continuing service led him to the Washington State Patrol where on December 30, 1985, he became a trooper cadet with the Seattle Crime Laboratory. Hansell transferred to Mansion Security three months later before joining the 64th Trooper Cadet Class.

He was married when he joined the Patrol but divorced a short time later. He married again in 1986 to Lisa S. Marino and became step-father to Angela Marino. Trooper Hansell was commissioned on January 9, 1987. Assigned to South King County, he later transferred to Bellevue.

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Tragically, Washington State Trooper Cliff Hansell would only serve six months as a commissioned law enforcement officer. On July 22, 1987, while responding to a collision scene, he collided with a semi-truck on North Central Avenue in downtown Kent sustaining fatal injuries during the crash.

The Washington State Patrol remembers Cliff Hansell. Though history records his time as a commissioned trooper in terms of months, not years or decades, his comrades in service remember him with great fondness and respect. He was a young man who in just 25 years had honorably served his country, had volunteered for additional perilous duties serving and protecting the public in our state, and had started a family with promise and with grace. Be it a lifetime or a mere moment of service, the courage to serve commends him to our honorable memory and our lasting appreciation.

And we do remember…