On the night of July 1–2, 1977, 25-year-old Louisiana State Trooper Donald Charles Cleveland was shot and killed during a traffic stop on Louisiana 94 between Lafayette and Breaux Bridge. Trooper Cleveland, who had been with the Louisiana State Police for just over a year, stopped a car for a lighting violation after it left a nightclub parking lot. Inside were several people, including 17-year-old Dalton Prejean and his brother.

Accounts say the occupants switched drivers during the stop. While the new driver spoke with the trooper, Prejean exited the vehicle, drew a concealed .38 caliber handgun and fired multiple shots without warning, striking Trooper Cleveland in the jaw and chest. The trooper collapsed in a ditch beside the road with his service revolver unfired in his hand. He was survived by his wife and two children.

Suspects fled but were arrested several hours later; two people were arrested in connection with the murder. Dalton Prejean was charged with first-degree murder and tried in Ouachita Parish after a change of venue; on May 1, 1978 a jury convicted him and recommended the death penalty. At the time of the killing, Prejean had recently been released from a juvenile facility after serving time for the murder of a taxi driver when he was 14. Anyone who knew Trooper Cleveland or has information about the stop and its aftermath is asked to come forward.