Trooper Jerry Don Davis

I was 21 at the time, my friend who was 20 were traveling together in his sister's car that we had just picked up in Long Beach, CA following her relocating from Hawaii to NJ. This particular day we were in the middle of rural TX on our way to Austin from Pueblo, CO. We traveled with our own personal firearms, and when word came over the country music station out of Lubbock that we were listening to that there had been a TSP killed in Austin and a manhunt was on, we pulled the car over in a well lit area, allowed the magnitude of this tragedy to set in for a moment and quickly relocated our weapons (UNLOADED and in their transport cases) to the trunk of the car. My friend at the time was planning to arrange an interview with a recruiter from either the PD in Austin or Houston- he hadn't made his final decision. Our vehicle was never stopped that October 5, in 1980 but we were on "high alert" whenever headlights approached us from behind. We weren't officers but had several friends who were in our hometown of Charlotte, NC. My friend had a change of heart and chose a different career, however his decision was not solely based on the death of Trooper Davis.

Carl Rosen
civilian traveling to Austin on night of the incident

December 29, 2020