Officer Roger Lovell Scott, 23, of the Clayton Police Department was critically wounded in the line of duty on September 18, 1977, after confronting a nude, bloodied man near St. John’s Episcopal Church on Clayton Road. A struggle followed: the suspect charged and knocked Officer Scott down, the officer retreated to his patrol car and called for backup, but the suspect overpowered him, struck him with a piece of lumber, disarmed him and shot him twice, once in the head and once in the left arm.

A Concord Police sergeant responding to the officer down call found the suspect pounding on Scott’s head with a rock and shot the suspect in the chest, killing him at the scene. Officer Scott survived in critical condition, underwent multiple surgeries, and remained hospitalized for six years before dying of his wounds on November 23, 1983, at age 29. No other suspects or arrests were reported.

What details about that night or about Officer Scott’s service are remembered by anyone who lived in or near Clayton in 1977?