Joseph Emmanuel Davis was a 35-year-old Atlanta Police Department officer when he was killed on June 7, 1989. A seven-year veteran of the department and a United States Army veteran of the Korean War, Officer Davis was pursuing a robbery suspect when the chase led him into a cemetery near Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. During a violent struggle there, he was fatally shot with his own service weapon; when fellow officers reached him, his handgun was missing.

Officers investigated the slaying, a suspect was apprehended, and legal proceedings followed that resulted in a conviction and a life sentence for the person found responsible. Officer Davis left behind a wife and son.