On the evening of April 11, 1971, Auxiliary Trooper Ormand Franklin Watkins, 30, was conducting a traffic stop on Sibert Road in Etowah County, Alabama. The driver was found to be intoxicated, a struggle followed, and the driver gained control of Trooper Watkins’ service weapon. Trooper Watkins was fatally shot; a second trooper at the scene was also wounded.

The man responsible was later apprehended, convicted, and sentenced to 30 years in prison but served 10 years before being pardoned by Governor George Wallace. Trooper Watkins had been with the Alabama Department of Public Safety for six months and was survived by his wife and a one-week-old child. His name appears on the Etowah County Law Enforcement Memorial at the county courthouse.

Does anyone have memories of Trooper Watkins, the scene on Sibert Road, or information that could add to the record of what happened?