On the afternoon of October 20, 1981, Waverly Brown, a 45-year-old African American police officer in Nyack, New York, was on duty. Known affectionately as 'Chipper,' he was a respected figure in the community and the first Black officer in the Nyack police department, where he had served for 15 years. His day, however, would end in a brutal act of violence that stemmed from a brazen armored car robbery.
Earlier that day, members of the Black Liberation Army and the Weather Underground
ambushed a Brink's armored truck at the Nanuet Mall. They killed one guard, Peter Paige, and seriously wounded another before escaping with $1.6 million. The robbers then switched to a U-Haul truck to continue their getaway. An alert citizen's tip about the suspicious vehicle switch led police to intercept the U-Haul at a roadblock on an entrance ramp to the New York State Thruway. Officer Brown and his partner, Sergeant Edward O'Grady, were among the officers at the scene.
As police surrounded the truck, a woman, later identified as Kathy Boudin, exited the cab and feigned innocence, causing the officers to momentarily lower their guard. It was a fatal miscalculation. The back doors of the U-Haul burst open, and heavily armed assailants emerged, unleashing a hail of automatic gunfire on the unsuspecting officers. Waverly Brown was struck and killed almost instantly at the scene. Sergeant O'Grady was also mortally wounded and died shortly after at a local hospital.
The ensuing investigation and manhunt led to the apprehension of several individuals involved in the robbery and murders. Kathy Boudin, David Gilbert, and Judith Alice Clark, all members of the Weather Underground, were arrested, tried, and convicted. Boudin was eventually paroled after serving 22 years. Gilbert and Clark also received lengthy sentences. Other participants, including members of the Black Liberation Army such as Mutulu Shakur, were also captured and convicted for their roles in the violent crime spree. Shakur received a 60-year sentence and was granted parole in late 2022 due to a terminal illness, dying months later. The violent deaths of Officer Waverly Brown and Sergeant Edward O'Grady left a lasting scar on the community of Nyack and served as a stark reminder of a turbulent period of domestic terrorism.
