The Orangetown Police Department and the former Nyack Village Police Department have lost four officers in the line of duty, and more unfortunately, they were lost two at a time.
Orangetown Police Department – August 2, 1973
Officer Reedy and Officer Kennedy of the Orangetown Police Department were struck and killed by a drunken driver on the night of August 2, 1973. Officers Reedy, Kennedy and other emergency personnel were at the scene of a serious accident on State Rt. 303 in the Hamlet of Blauvelt. The accident scene was closed off and well lit by flares and emergency lights of Police, Fire and Ambulance vehicles. A drunk driver coming north at a high rate of speed passed the flares, drove over the fire hoses and struck Officer Reedy and Officer Kennedy who were standing together in the roadway. Officer Reedy was a 4 year veteran of the Department. Officer Kennedy had only 6 months on the job.
Nyack Village Police Department – October 20, 1981
Sergeant O’Grady and Officer Brown of the Nyack Village Police Department were shot and killed on October 20, 1981 during the infamous Brink’s Armored Car robbery at the Nanuet Mall in Nanuet, NY where a Brinks armored car guard, Peter Paige, was murdered and his two partners wounded. Eyewitnesses report that the suspects escaped in a U-Haul van and a Honda. Sergeant O’Grady, Officer Brown, Nyack Officer Brian Lennon, and Nyack Detective Arthur Keenan set up a roadblock on State Rt. 59 at the entrance to the New York State Thruway in Nyack, some 3 miles from Nanuet. One of the vehicles they stopped was a U-Haul rental truck driven by a white male with a white female passenger (the robbers were reported to have been black men). When the officers went to check the rear of the truck, the robbers, members of the Black Liberation Army (BLA), came out shooting with automatic weapons. Officer Brown was immediately shot and fell to the ground, apparently dead, but an execution shot to the head while he was lying on the ground, made sure. A gunfight erupted and Sergeant O’Grady was executed while trying to reload his 6 shot revolver behind a police vehicle, subsequently dying of his wounds. Nyack Police Detective Arthur Keenan was also wounded in the exchange of gunfire. Officer Brian Lennon was unhurt despite his patrol car being riddled with M-16 bullets, but was trapped and unable to exit his vehicle because of Sergeant O’Grady’s dying body slumped against the driver’s door. Sergeant O’Grady was a 12 year veteran of the Nyack Police Department. Officer Brown was a 15 year veteran of the Nyack Police Department.
Concerns of Brinks Survivors.
We Hope and Pray that this and other sites like it will never have to be updated.
Visit the Rockland County (NY) Law Enforcement Memorial
Visit the National Law Officers Enforcement Memorial