On January 28, 1980, 35-year-old NYPD officer Cecil Frank Sledge of the 69th Precinct was killed during a traffic stop at Flatlands Avenue and 78th Street in Brooklyn. Sledge, a 12-year veteran and U.S. Army veteran, recognized the driver as a suspect wanted in a robbery from the day before. The driver, identified as Salvatore DeSarno, a parolee known as Crazy Sal, fired a .38 caliber handgun, mortally wounding the officer.

As Sledge fell, his gun belt became caught on DeSarno’s car; the suspect then dragged the officer approximately a quarter of a mile before Sledge was dislodged. DeSarno fled, later took an elderly woman hostage in her home, and was apprehended. Prosecutors argued the killing was deliberate; the defense claimed self-defense and past conflict with the officer. A jury convicted DeSarno of second-degree murder and he was sentenced to 25 years to life. Officer Sledge was survived by his wife and two children.