Man sentenced to 40 years for killing Zachary firefighter, police officer

BATON ROUGE – A man convicted of manslaughter after killing a firefighter and reserve police officer in 2018 has been sentenced to 40 years in prison Friday. 

Officials said Christopher Lawton was carrying out a warrant in Baker when he encountered Albert Franklin in a Walmart parking lot in 2018. Lawton confronted Franklin — wanted for allegedly beating his girlfriend with an AR-15 rifle a week earlier — while the suspect was sitting in a U-Haul truck outside the store. 

Franklin reportedly tried to drive away, pinning Lawton between the truck and a line of grocery carts before running him over. Franklin sped off, leaving Lawton behind as good Samaritans rushed to try and save the officer’s life.

Franklin and another person inside the vehicle were later caught trying to hide the vehicle after a sprawling search by law enforcement.

“To me in my book, he was a double hero,” Police Chief David McDavid said at the time. “He was a firefighter and a policeman. He served his community well and couldn’t ask for a better employee on my end.”

Friday, Franklin was sentenced to the maximum amount of jail time for a manslaughter charge.