On Sunday, October 25, 1981, at approximately 9:45 p.m., Patrol Deputy Royce Anderson and a Reserve Deputy received a weapons disturbance call at a truck stop located at I-45 and Rankin Road. As they were interviewing witnesses, a man that had been stabbed in the neck approached the deputies. He advised that the suspect, a truck driver, had left the area south bound on I-45. The victim gave the deputies a description of the truck. The deputies then left the scene and began to search for the truck. Deputy Anderson was able to catch up with the truck near the North Belt and was finally able to stop it on the F.M. 149 over-pass in the 9400 block of I-45. Both deputies exited the patrol car with guns drawn and approached the truck from the driver’s side. Deputy Anderson ordered the driver from the truck. After securing the suspect, Deputy Anderson began to advance to the driver’s door to check the truck for other occupants. As Deputy Anderson lowered his weapon, which he had cocked, the weapon discharged striking him in the upper right leg. The bullet severed all of the major arteries in his leg, and despite frenzied efforts to save his life, Deputy Anderson eventually died of his wound at 5:05 a.m., Monday morning. Deputy Anderson was 29 years old at the time of his death and the 17th deputy to die in the line of duty.