Police department commemorates anniversary of officers’ deaths
February 10, 2021 - The St. Petersburg Police Department on Wednesday paid tribute to three officers who were killed in the line of duty 10 years ago. At the Heroes of the St. Petersburg Police Law Enforcement Memorial at Demens Landing Park, the department hailed the lives and service of Sgt. Thomas Baitinger, Officer Jeffrey Yaslowitz and Officer David Crawford. Baitinger and Yaslowitz were shot and killed on Jan. 24, 2011, by a wanted fugitive. Less than a month later, on Feb. 21, Crawford was fatally shot by Nicholas Lindsey Jr., who was 16 at the time and is serving a life sentence, without the possibility of parole, for the killing.