(NYACK, N.Y.) -- Relatives of two police officers and a Brinks guard killed in the 1981 robbery of an armored car by radical leftists have mounted a campaign to stop the parole of Kathy Boudin, a former member of the Weather Underground now imprisoned for her part in the crime.
Boudin’s parole hearing, her first, is scheduled for late August. If her release is approved, she could be free on Oct. 15, five days before the 20th anniversary of the holdup. She pleaded guilty in an agreement that gave her a sentence of 20 years to life.
Concern of Brinks Survivors, a group that includes law enforcement from Rockland County where the Brinks holdup occurred, are urging police officers and others to write or e-mail Gov. George Pataki.
The victims of the robbery included two Nyack police officers, Waverly Brown and Sgt. Edward O’Grady, and a Brinks guard, Peter Paige. Paige was killed during the robbery at the Nanuet Mall, where two other guards were wounded, and Brown and O’Grady died after stopping a U-Haul truck at a roadblock.
There is no evidence that Boudin killed anyone herself. But witnesses said that she played a critical role at the roadblock, convincing O’Grady and Brown to holster their weapons. As the officers tried to open the truck’s back door, ithey were ambushed by armed men concealed inside who cut them down in a hail of bullets.
The gunfire killed Brown immediately, while O’Grady, heavily wounded, died 90 minutes later at a local hospital. Aother police officer, Detective Arthur Keenan, was also wounded.
Brown, nicknamed “Chipper,” was a veteran officer with a reputation as a good street cop. Before becoming a police officer, he served in the U.S. Air Force. Friends described him as a generous man who enjoyed preparing meals for other officers when he was on duty. He left behind a 17-year-old son, who later joined the U.S. Postal Police, and two daughters, both serving in the Air Force at the time their father died, as well as his mother.
O’Grady joined the Marines after graduating from Nyack High School and served two tours of duty in Vietnam. In 1976, he became the youngest person ever promoted to sergeant’s rank in the history of Rockland County. He was also a longtime member of the Nyack Volunteer Fire Department. O’Grady was survived by his wife, Diane, a son, Edward jJr., who was 6 when his father was killed, and two young daughters, Kimberly and Patricia.
Paige, a Navy veteran, had been working for Brink’s for 25 years. He left behind his wife, Josephine, a daughter Susan, 19 and two sons Michael 16, and Peter, 9. He was also survived by six brothers and sisters.
At the time of the robbery, Boudin had been living under an assumed name for more than a decade. She went underground in 1970 after a homemade bomb exploded in her family’s New York townhouse, killing two of her comrades. Boudin was in the house at the time of the explosion, and she and other members of the Weathermen had apparently set up a bomb factory there without her family’s knowledge.
The daughter of Leonard Boudin, a prominent lawyer known for his work in civil rights, Boudin became involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement after graduating from Bryn Mawr College. She joined one of the most extreme factions of the movement and remained in hiding even after criminal charges in connection with the townhouse explosion were dropped until her arrest in Rockland County. Ironically, her brother, Michael Boudin, is a federal judge appointed by President Ronald Reagan.
Boudin has her supporters, who say she is truly remorseful for her part in the Brink’s robbery and has used her time in prison well. They include Norma Hill, who was one of several witnesses allowed to testify anonymously at the trials of some of the Brink’s defendants. Hill was forced from her car at gunpoint by members of the group.
Hill got to know Boudin when she began working on AIDS issues with inmates at the Bedford Hills Correctional Center. In an opinion piece in the Rockland Journal-News, Hill said that she believes Boudin is no longer a threat to society.
“This day will always be embossed in my memory,” Hill said. “Yet I feel that the time has come to release ourselves from all this anger. We will never forget those who lost their lives. They will be part of us forever.”
Letters opposing Boudin’s parole can be sent to:
The Honorable Governor George Pataki
State of New York
Executive Chambers
Albany, NY 12224
NYS Division of Parole
Victims Impact Unit
97 Central Avenue
Albany, NY 12206
Concern of Brink’s Survivors
PO Box 129
Nyack, NY 10960-0129