Special Deputy Sheriff Daniel A. Todd

Daniel A. Todd

Special Deputy Sheriff Daniel Todd was shot and killed while intervening in a domestic dispute in Vernon.

He had been sworn in as a deputy and assigned to protect the city dumps, in the area of South Sante Fe Avenue and East Vernon Street, and its operators after they began to receive threatening letters and demands of money in January 1910. The sheriff believed that the letters were being sent by the Black Hand, a forerunner to the mafia.

On February 22nd, 1910, the operator's wife was threatened by her son who brandished a gun and demanded money. The woman asked Deputy Todd to intervene because he had built a rapport with the boy. A struggle ensued in which the firearm was discharged and struck Deputy Todd in the chest, killing him.

A coroner's jury and presiding judge both determined the shooting to be an accident and the boy was never indicted.

Deputy Todd was a widower and had served with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for approximately two months.