Patrolman Samuel T. Cunningham

Samuel T. Cunningham

Patrolman Samuel Cunningham was shot and killed while attempting to stop a stolen vehicle on Prescott Avenue (current-day Payson Avenue) in the Inwood section of Manhattan.

When Patrolman Cunningham witnessed a reckless driver, he realized the vehicle had been stolen. He tried to stop the driver, who pulled out a gun and shot him five times. The driver crashed his vehicle into a pillar at 10th Avenue and fled.

Patrolman Cunningham was transported to St. Lawrence Hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds approximately three weeks later.

The 18-year-old suspect was arrested in New Jersey about six months later. He was a member of the National Guard and had used a weapon stolen from the National Guard Armory to murder Officer Cunningham. In February of 1918, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 years to life. On October 16, 1920, he and another inmate nearly beat three guards to death and escaped in a stolen automobile from Sing Sing Prison. Six days later, they were captured in Warner, New Hampshire. He got seven years added to his sentence for escape and another five years for assaulting the three guards. In 1947, he was paroled. In 1956, he was arrested by FBI agents in Las Angeles, California, for violating his parole.

Patrolman Cunningham had served with the New York City Police Department for at least seven years and was assigned to the 42nd Precinct, the present-day 34th Precinct. He was survived by his wife and son.