Officer Dana Everett Paladini, 25, a California Highway Patrol officer and U.S. Navy veteran, died on July 4, 1972, after being struck by a ricocheted bullet. Paladini and a local sheriff’s deputy were at the scene of an accident involving a horse trailer when the owner asked that a severely injured horse be euthanized. The deputy fired three shots; one bullet ricocheted off the trailer and struck Officer Paladini. He was taken to St. Francis Hospital and died soon after.

Paladini had been with the California Highway Patrol for nine months at the time. The shooting was ruled accidental; no arrests, charges, litigation, or murder investigation followed. This was recorded as an inadvertent gunfire incident that proved fatal while he was performing duty.