In the pre-dawn hours of a cold November morning in 1974, the life of 22-year-old White male, Otis Lee "Sonny" Robison, a patrolman with the Lincoln Police Department, was tragically cut short. On November 16th, what began as a routine traffic stop on I-20 escalated into a violent encounter that would leave two officers dead and a community in mourning. Robison, who had been with the department for less than a year, was a newlywed, survived by his wife, parents, and two sisters.
Alongside his partner, Patrolman Allen Lee "Butch" Harmon, and Reserve Officer James Hines, Robison pulled over a swerving Dodge Challenger. The driver was arrested for drunk driving, and the officers were transporting him to Talladega to administer a sobriety test. Unknown to them, the suspect was an escaped convict driving a stolen vehicle. While en route on Alabama 77, the man, who had been seated in the back with Robison, produced a hidden. 380 caliber handgun and opened fire. Robison was shot first, followed by Harmon in the front seat. The third officer, who was driving, exchanged gunfire with the suspect as he fled into the woods.
The suspect, identified as 35-year-old Russell Hobson Hurley, Jr., an escapee from Calhoun County Jail, was apprehended ten days later at a motel in Birmingham. On April 18, 1975, Hurley was convicted of two counts of murder and received two consecutive life sentences. His time in prison was not without incident; in November 1980, he managed to escape but was recaptured later that month in Mount Vernon, Illinois. Hurley remained incarcerated until his death in prison on January 22, 2006.
