Murdered police officers from Brinks robbery to receive memorial honor before anniversary
NYACK − The names of Sgt. Edward O'Grady Jr. and Officer Waverly "Chipper" Brown will be enshrined in the village's downtown on Friday before the annual memorial at the site of their deaths in 1981 by armed gunmen.
The renaming of Lydecker Street will immortalize O'Grady and Brown in the village's downtown. The ceremony is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Village Hall to unveil the signage for Lydecker at North Broadway, two hours before the annual memorial ceremony at the Thruway entrance on Route 59.
Both officers were murdered on Oct. 20, 1981, at a roadblock at the Mountainview Avenue entrance to the New York State Thruway after an armed gang robbed a Brinks armored car of $1.6 million at the Nanuet Mall.
The gunmen killed Brinks guard Peter Paige at the mall and seriously wounded his partner, Joseph Trombino. The robbers included self-proclaimed revolutionaries who had been behind a dozen other robberies to raise money to supposedly feed the poor and support their revolution.
Nyack village officials approved renaming the street after the fallen officers. The Post Office on Broadway also bears the names of the two officers.
"We had asked the Nyack Village Board last year to consider an honorary naming of Lydecker Street in memory of Ed & Chipper, to provide a lasting recognition in the downtown area of the Village as we move further from the date of the incident," Rockland Undersheriff Robert Van Cura said.
Van Cura, a former South Nyack-Grand View police chief and detective, is active with events honoring O'Grady. Brown, and Paige.
On Friday at the Mountainview Avenue memorial, retired Orangetown Police Lt. Terry Hutmacher will be the keynote speaker.
The ceremony − at a pocket park with a stone memorial, flags, and granite bench − usually starts at 4 p.m. The state closes the Thruway exit east for the ceremony, which usually lasts an hour.
Hundreds of people, including officers, family, and friends, will gather at the Thruway entrance to honor the officers and security guards killed and wounded on Oct. 20, 1981.
On that crisp autumn day at 4 p.m., six heavily armed gunmen jumped from the back of a red U-Haul and killed the two officers, wounded Nyack Detective Arthur Keenan, and injured Nyack Officer Brian Lennon.
O'Grady died at a Nyack Hospital, while Brown died on the tarmac.
Brinks ceremony: Hundreds honor Nyack police officers and guard killed in 1981, $1.6M robbery
The ceremony features a police honor guard, a wreath-laying, the playing of "Taps," a rifle salute, pipe and drums, and singing of the national anthem and God Bless America.
The 1981 Brinks robbers called the Family, included members of the Black Liberation Army and anti-Vietnam war and civil rights activists from the 1960s and 1970s.
Some of the gang members robbed multiple armored cars in the region. The gang comprised 1960s radicals with various extremist groups and Black Liberation Army members.
Weather Underground radical David Gilbert drove the red getaway U-Haul van with then-fugitive Kathy Boudin in the front seat. Both Gilbert and Boudin were members of the violent Weather Underground during the 1960s into the 1970s. Both were paroled from prison after decades behind bars, as was getaway driver Judith Clark, another 1960s radical.
A joint terrorism task force with the FBI and local police tracked down the people who robbed the Rockland Brinks armored car, as well as robbing other financial institutions and armored cars in the region. Dozens of arrests and convictions followed.
Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com. Twitter: @lohudlegal.
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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Murdered Brinks officers to have Nyack NY street renamed after them
