Deputy Sheriff Clendon Paul West Sr., 27, was shot and killed on September 11, 1995, while on duty in Smithfield, North Carolina. He and another deputy had gone to a mobile home park to verify the address of a man wanted on several warrants; upon arrival they were met with gunfire. Deputy West was fatally wounded and the other deputy was injured.

The suspect, a 31-year-old man, was apprehended two days later at a city rail station in New York City. Deputy West is survived by his wife and two sons. The community later honored his sacrifice by renaming the Market Street Neuse River Bridge in Smithfield the Deputy Sheriff Clendon Paul West Jr. Memorial Bridge in October 2015.