David Lee "Deacon" Turner (January 2, 1955 – July 10, 2011) was a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He attended San Diego State University. He played with the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

from 1978 to 1980. On July 10, 2011, Turner was fatally shot during an altercation with Kern County Sheriff deputies in

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

in which he allegedly swung a bag of unopened beer at a deputy. Witnesses at the scene alleged that one deputy struck him from behind with a baton as he attempted to walk away. His son, with him at the time, says that deputies fired when Turner fell and the beer can that he was carrying exploded after hitting the ground. He was 56 years old.

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Pro-Football referenceDeath information
1955 births 2011 deaths American football running backs Cincinnati Bengals players Players of American football from Bakersfield, California Players of American football from Jackson, Mississippi Deaths by firearm in California African Americans shot dead by law enforcement officers in the United States San Diego State Aztecs football players {{runningback-1950s-stub