Officer Dennis Charles Doty, 35, of the Riverside Police Department, was killed on May 13, 1982, while attempting to serve an arrest warrant. He and his partner, Officer Philip Trust, went to a Wolfe Street residence in Riverside, California, to arrest a convicted bank robbery suspect who had failed to report to serve a 13-year sentence. The officers were admitted into the home around 8:30 a.m. and found the suspect sitting naked on a bed. As they helped him dress, the suspect produced a handgun and opened fire, fatally wounding both officers. Officer Trust returned fire and wounded the suspect in the hand; the suspect was captured after a 60-hour manhunt.

The suspect was later convicted of murdering Officers Doty and Trust and sentenced to death. Reports say the motive was revenge for a previous shootout in which the suspect had been paralyzed from the waist down. Officer Doty was a decorated Vietnam War veteran who had received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star and had served ten years with the department.