On the night of April 12, 2011, a routine traffic stop in Trumann, Arkansas, turned into a harrowing and tragic event that ended the life of 30-year-old male Police Officer Jonathan Richard Schmidt. A four-year veteran of the Trumann Police Department, Schmidt was a married father of three who had a lifelong ambition to be a police officer in his hometown.
That evening, at approximately 11:30 p.m., Patrolman Schmidt and his sergeant, Corey Overstreet, pulled over a vehicle on Pine Avenue
for an insurance violation. Inside the car were three individuals. After the officers arrested the driver on an outstanding warrant, Schmidt moved to the rear passenger side of the vehicle. As he opened the door to address the male passenger, the man, later identified as Jerry Lard, lunged at him and opened fire with a handgun.
Shot in the neck, Schmidt, in a final act of heroism, turned and pushed his sergeant out of the line of fire before returning fire at the assailant. The exchange of gunfire resulted in Lard being wounded. Despite his grave injury, Schmidt was transported to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his wounds on April 13, 2011.
The suspect, Jerry Lard, was taken into custody at the scene. In the subsequent investigation and trial, it was revealed that Schmidt was shot four times, with the fatal shot striking his neck. Dashboard camera footage from the police cruiser captured the chilling moments of the attack and Schmidt's plea to his attacker, 'Please don't shoot me again.' In July 2012, a jury found Jerry Lard guilty of capital murder for the death of Patrolman Jonathan Schmidt and attempted capital murder for shooting at Sergeant Overstreet. He was subsequently sentenced to death for his crimes.
