Jeffrey Dale Young was 28 when he was killed on August 18, 1987, during a traffic stop on the northbound lanes of I-75, south of the Manatee River bridge in Manatee County, Florida. A Florida Highway Patrol trooper assigned to the narcotics squad, he had been attempting to arrest a drug courier and found 340 grams of crack cocaine in the vehicle. During the arrest a struggle broke out and one of the suspects gained control of Trooper Young’s revolver and shot him in the face at point-blank range, killing him instantly.

The suspects, traveling to Detroit, Michigan, were captured about three hours later in a nearby swamp. The shooter, a 42-year-old man, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death; the accomplice, a 40-year-old man, was also taken into custody and charged in connection with the incident. Trooper Young had three years with the Florida Highway Patrol and left behind a wife and daughter. The bridge near where he died now bears his name.