Patrolman Thomas J. Duggan Sr. (pictured right) was in plain clothes and on his way to court when a car passing onto Broadway St. nearly hit him. The car stopped at a red light at the next corner. The officer pulled up behind the car of William Rodriguez (pictured left) and Doris Ortiz. After Duggan exited the vehicle, identifying himself as a police officer, Doris Ortiz jumped out the passenger seat, hitting and pushing him into Lowell St. Then Rodriguez got out of the car wielding an aluminum softball bat, smacking it in his hand as he approached the officer. Because it was broad daylight, and on a busy downtown street where kids were walking home from school, and pedestrians were walking close by, Officer Duggan pulled out his gun and ordered Rodriguez to put down the bat while he backed up into a vacant lot. Duggan matched every advancing step by the perpetrators with a step back, luring them away from the innocent bystanders and into the vacant lot in case he had to shoot his weapon. Then suddenly, Ortiz grabbed Duggan’s hands. The officer fired once, with the bullet grazing her neck and then twice, but the gun had jammed the second time he attempted to fire it. The suspect then raised the bat and proceeded to beat the officer to death right in front of all the witnesses nearby. After the deed was done, the two drove off, leaving him to die in the dirt and went to a nearby hospital to treat Ortiz’s superficial gun wound. But as he stopped into the parking lot, he was captured by police and taken into custody. Eventually, the two were let off under a technicality.
