Officer Down Memorial Page

Police Officer

Waverly L. Brown

Bio & Incident Details

Age: 45

Tour: 15 years

Badge # 19

Cause: Gunfire

Incident Date: 10/20/1981

Weapon: Rifle; Automatic

Suspect: Paroled in 2003

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Officer Waverly Brown and Sergeant Edward O'Grady were shot and killed by heavily armed members of a domestic terrorist group, the Weather Underground, who had just robbed a Brinks armored truck of over a million dollars and were attempting to escape. The suspects had just murdered the armored car guard and wounded two other guards before loading themselves into the back of a rental truck to be driven away by accomplices. The truck was stopped at a roadblock manned by several Nyack officers.

One of the female occupants in the cab of the truck told the officers their guns were making her nervous. Thinking they had stopped the wrong truck, the officers began to holster their weapons. Almost immediately afterwards several of the heavily armed men exited the back of the truck and opened fire with automatic weapons, fatally wounding Officer Brown and Sergeant O'Grady. The suspects fled the scene in different directions but were all eventually apprehended and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. One of the suspects was paroled in August 2003.

A suspect convicted of killing Police Officer John G. Scarangella of the New York City Police Department, was a prime suspect in the murders of Sergeant O'Grady and Officer Brown. When he was arrested for the murder of Officer Scarangella, he was in possession of a gun linked to the murders of Sergeant O'Grady and Officer Brown. That suspect was never charged in these murders.

Officer Brown had been with the agency for 15 years and was survived by his mother and three children. He is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Nyack, Rockland County, New York.

The Weather Underground was also connected to the Black Liberation Army, which was responsible for the murders of at least one dozen other police officers throughout the country. The Weather Underground is believed responsible for the unsolved bombing murder of San Francisco, California, Police Department Sergeant Brian McDonnell on February 16, 1970.

The Black Liberation Army was a violent, radical group that attempted to fight for independence from the United States government in the late 1960's and early 1970's. The BLA was responsible for the murders of more than 10 police officers around the country. They were also responsible for violent attacks around the country that left many police officers wounded.

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