On the pre-dawn of November 16, 1974, 22-year-old patrolman Otis Lee Sonny Robison of the Lincoln Police Department was shot and killed during what began as a traffic stop on I-20. Robison, a newlywed who had served less than a year and was survived by his wife, parents, and two sisters, was riding in the rear seat of a patrol car with partner Allen Lee Butch Harmon and Reserve Officer James Hines when the driver they had arrested produced a hidden .380 caliber handgun and opened fire. Robison was shot first; Harmon was then shot in the front seat. The third officer, who was driving, exchanged gunfire as the suspect fled into the woods.

The assailant was identified as 35-year-old Russell Hobson Hurley Jr., an escapee from Calhoun County Jail driving a stolen car. Hurley was arrested ten days later at a Birmingham motel, later convicted of two counts of murder, and received two consecutive life sentences. Anyone with information about Robison, his patrol work that night, or who remembers the case is asked to share what they know.