Danny Ray Vanderpool, Officer
Moore Police Department
Officer Vanderpool, 20, had been loaned to the Edmond Police Department to pose as a high school student, but was actually working as an undercover narcotics officer. On the morning of Friday, May 18, 1979, Vanderpool was involved in a traffic accident two miles west of Highway 77, west of Guthrie. Vanderpool was on duty at the time of his death working on a narcotic assignment. He apparently lost control of his motorcycle at a speed near 70 miles per hour and was thrown 125 feet. He was pronounced dead on arrival at a Guthrie hospital. The previous December, thirty-nine people had been arrested for sixty-three separate violations based upon his evidence. Vanderpool had won several trophies for racing motorcycles. He was the first Moore police officer to be killed in the line of duty.