Sergeant 3rd Class
Keith Alfred HAYDON
YEAR OF DEATH
1980
JURISDICTION
New South Wales
DETAILS OF DEATH
About 12.20pm on 24 November 1980 Sergeant Haydon drove to Mount Sugarloaf following a report of shots being fired on the mountain. The Sergeant did not know at the time that the person firing the shots was wanted for a double murder at Bondi a few years earlier. When Sergeant Haydon located and confronted the offender he was shot to death. Police were quickly informed of the situation by members of the public who had found the Sergeant’s body. A description of a suspect vehicle was then broadcast by Police Radio. A short time later the vehicle was spotted by Constable George Pietruszka of Beresfield Police. Due to confusing and continual radio transmissions (relating to the Sergeant’s murder) and despite many attempts to do so Constable Pietruszka was unable to ascertain the reason for the alert on the suspect vehicle. Having little choice in the matter the Constable stopped the vehicle and spoke to the driver. Constable Pietruszka was then also shot in the stomach and seriously wounded. Sergeant Haydon was born in 1943 and joined the New South Wales Police Force on 24 February 1964. At the time of his death he was stationed at West Wallsend.
