Dragnet - The Big Rod

[Music] ladies and gentlemen the story you are about to see is true the names have been changed to protect the [Music] innocent this is the city Los Angeles California I work here I'm a cop it was Tuesday April 7th it was cold in Los Angeles we were working the day watch out of accident investigation division hit and run felony unit my partner's Frank Smith the boss is Captain caly my name's fry a young woman had been run down and seriously injured the driver of the car had escaped into the City we had to try to find [Music] him it's about that thing last night huh that's right M look I'm in an awful hurry I got to get going to work all right this is my partner Frank Smith my name's Friday hi oh I'm sorry just sit over there thank you hi Frank there's some coffee there on the table if you want some no no thank you well would you you mind pouring me a cup you'll find everything you need right there Two Sugars yes ma'am what do you want to know about last night I told the officers who were there all I know yes ma'am we read their report we'd like to go over with you if it's all right seems like a waste of time to me you'd spend a little more but I trying to catch the kid to hit that girl it' be better all the way around yes ma'am according to what you told the officers last night you saw the accident is that right I saw it yeah but I don't think it was an accident beg you pardon I said I don't think it was an accident yes ma'am ask me I think that kid deliberately hit the girl deliberately why' he say that just the way it looked that's all what kind of feeling way he came barreling around that corner well he must have seen her she was right into the light didn't even make an attempt to stop none at all yes ma'am I saw the girl step off the curb right under the light he had to see her yes ma well anyway she stepped off the curb and started across the street Harry and me saw her she started across and then all of a sudden this kid in the hot rod was coming right at her wasn't anything she could do uh-huh well she kind of looked up at the car like well she was going to run but she didn't have time the car hit her and knocked her down did you get a good look at the vehicle you mean the one that hit her yes that's right you bet I did passed right into the light got a real good look at it wonder if you describe it for us well I told the cops all about it last night seems like that' be enough why do I have to go through it again well there might be something you didn't think of last night was Hunter something you might have forgotten well it isn't likely but if you got to have it I guess that's the way it's got to be hope we can get it over with fast though I got to get down the corner so I won't miss my bus well if it help any we can drive you to work now what kind of a car was it Miss Hunter a hot rod you know the kind low to exhaust pipes kind of beat up what was the brand name do you remember well I guess it was a Ford look like look like one let me see hard to tell it was kind of banged up you know I don't know why the police that lock cars like that in the streets anyway it couldn't be very safe can you tell us what year the car was well I'm not real good at that but I'd say maybe 1940 might have been 1941 beg pardon I think it was a 1940 might have been a 41 it was a pre-war car though yeah I'm sure of that was there anything about the car that would make it easier for us to identify not especially black Ford all beat up I sure not if I saw it again any place did you get a good look at the driver of the car no not too good all I could see was that he was a kid you know maybe 19 20 years old mhm sure like to see you get that kid is the girl all right she looked pretty bad last night well she's still in a critical condition the doctors aren't sure yet whether she make it sure hope she does have you talked to her no not yet just a terrible thing kids like that running around in hot rods barreling around the city person's not safe on the streets anymore well just because a car's got twin tail pipes Miss Hunter doesn't have to be a hot rod well this one was even had that little sort license plate hanging down the back bumper what was that maam something wrong with your ears no ma'am just kind of hard to hear you well I don't know why I'm talking loud enough I think you ought to have him checked yes ma' what was that you said about the plate on the car you mean a state license plate no one of those with a club name on it you know the kind well now there wasn't a notation of that on a report that we remember well I guess I forgot all the excitement and all I must have forgot I understand did you see the name on the plate yeah not real good but I saw it I wonder if you can remember it not all of it the last part was Wheels um something wheels two words you're pretty sure of that are you yeah Wheels that's the word I saw didn't remember it last night guess it didn't seem important then must be a lot of cars that have those plates on them all over town yes we know gee I'm never going to make it cold don't seem like it's going to help much lot of cars with those little plates a lot of them yes ma'am even if you do find a kid with one of them how you going to know he's the right one well I won't be too tough huh his car will tell [Music] [Applause] us [Music] according to the report an automobile driven by one male occupant had struck a woman while she crossed the intersection of Olympic Boulevard in Connecticut Street the night before when the ambulance arrived at the scene the victim who was identified as Mrs Helen Chapman was unconscious and was removed to Georgia Street Receiving Hospital for emergency treatment at 1:14 p.m. we drove over to Georgia Street Receiving Hospital to talk to the superintendent Dr Hall how is she condition's so critical she can't be moved to her own Hospital we're going to have to hold her here for a while can we talk to her no hasn't recovered Consciousness to the point where you can question her yet yeah we're administering serum Alban to counteract shark how bad is she well compound fractures of the femur rib fractures and Associated internal injuries including a punctured lung brain concussion we don't expect her to live that's too bad I have to go in and check her vion's husband is in the waiting room his name is Carl Chapman thanks do Mr Chapman car police officers this my partner Frank Smith my name is Friday talk to the doctor yes sir we did is there anything new is she going to be all right we don't know sir you better ask the doctor yourself why don't anybody tell me anything all the time I ask how my wife is they tell me to ask the doctor why won't they tell me we wouldn't know sir I can't even find out if she needs anything they won't let me see her been over 10 hours nobody tell me what's going on it won't be very long now the doctor will let us know it's easy to say wait till they let us know it's not your wife who's in there isn't anyone you love why are you here anyway why aren't you out trying to get the rotten little that did it we'll get to him when after Helen's dead that going to be when you start looking no sir we're looking for him now we came over to see your wife we thought maybe she might be able to give us some information what do you want from her the name and address of the kid that ran her Dawn does she have to get out of bed and go find him for you that's your job I'll let's talk about the police department being so good but what are you doing standing around here waiting for my wife to point the kid out for you would you excuse us a minute Joe yeah sure we'll wait out in the hall do sure a rough one isn't it yeah wonder what's going on in there I don't know we better call the office and get a broadcast out on that plate call the National Hot Rod Association maybe they can give us something on that club yeah well you better find him fast cuz I'm looking too how is she she was 7 months along baby on the way yeah dead both of them 3:15 p.m. Frank and I drove out to the offices of the National Hot Rod Association on Hollywood Boulevard we met with Wally Parks he checked their records for clubs with the last name Wheels there were three in their files two were in the eastern part of the United States and one was listed as having headquarters in alhamra California we obtained the name and address of the president of the club and we drove out to see him we found him in the garage behind in the house working on his car we introduced ourselves what do you want to see me about understand you're the president of the square Wheels Club yeah that's right why how many members do you have in the club 18 18 actives couple of guys in the service what's this all about anyway how come the questions all your members have the metal plates with a club name on their cars yeah get them when they pay the Initiation fee why anybody else have them not legally how do you mean that couple of them off been stolen from Members any of the fellas in the club drive a black pre-war Ford yeah I guess we got about five of them can't you tell me what this is all about all right a woman was run down by a hot rod last night one of the witnesses saw a plate on the car that might have been from your club no kidding it's the way we got it what' the car look like twin pipes pretty well beat up white sidewalls it's not one of ours then it sound pretty sure what about the plate like I told you we had a couple of them stolen how come you're so sure it wasn't one of your members I know the cars in the club there in a yo-yo in the bunch yo-yo yeah you know a junk keep oh I see I don't know seems like every time there's any trouble with a car over 5 years old it's a hot rod take a look I want to show you something been working on it for 3 years got over 1,200 bucks in it take a look a lot of motor it's new work engine multiable carburation all the parts have been balanced motors's been boarded out stroked got 8 and 1/2 to1 compression special cam shaft 1 and 3/4 in O valves converted ignition lincol self-energizing brakes heavy duty shocks and I've reworked the steering that's a hot rod well it's a good car son but what's it prove well the car that ran the woman down wasn't one how do you figure that you said it was a wck didn't you that's right we haven't got a wck that's allowed on the streets in this club we got a safety check every month any car that isn't safe has to be fixed to the guys out a lot of clubs operate that way yeah I'll tell you kids build rods for two reasons they want the cars to run better be more efficient or else they want something a little different than you can buy in a showroom well all this sounds real fine but a woman was killed last Night by a kid driving a hopped up car maybe it had twin pipes loud Muffler but I'll give the odds from here to Bonnyville that it wasn't a hot rod I know how you guys feel we're always getting it every kid behind the wheel in a secondhand car is a potential killer way the papers pictures we just roam around looking for somebody to run over you check the records I think you'll find the ratio between tickets given out to members of hot rod clubs ones that work under the NH and any other group of drivers will make the hot roders look pretty good had been a ticket in our club for the last year and a half one before that was for overtime parking I'm sorry fellas that car last night wasn't one of our guys you can bet he wasn't a hot Roder either well now have you got any way of knowing who could have gotten that plate not right off but we'll find him how there's only so many streets in Los Angeles we'll find him guys like that make things tough on the clean drivers in this town we'll find him for you all right we'll appreciate any help you can give us but this is Police business if you find them you call us right away oh don't worry we will how do I get in touch with you I'll leave you one of our CS CS anytime you call right well I'll get on the phone and get the fellas round it up now if you turn anything you call us right away don't try to take care of it yourselves there's only one thing we're interested in that's it proven to you it wasn't one of us showing you were on your side well it shouldn't be too hard should it huh there's a lot of [Music] room [Music] we got the names and addresses of the square Wheels club and we talked to them we checked their cars and each of them volunteered to assist us in attempting to locate the hit and run vehicle Frank put in a call to Georgia Street Receiving Hospital and talked again to Dr Hall he told us that the victim's husband Carl Chapman had been placed under the care of his family doctor and had been given sedatives to make him sleep 7:15 p.m. I called Lieutenant Don Mann and filled him in on the developments 8:47 p.m. Frank got back from the the crime lab hi any word yet no got a call from Al Duan a little while ago it's a hot rod Club H yeah he says all the clubs in the area are looking for the car they divided the city up into sections the members are all checking the streets no luck though huh no not yet they turned a couple of cars but they don't check out yet anything on the wire no replies how'd you do pretty good got the report here had a couple of sandwiches sent in got you a Swiss on rye it's in the bag any coffee yeah there's a cart in there here oh good the lab sure did a good job on this stuff that right yeah here's the scene here's the dope the body was found 10 ft 4 in from the northeast corner mhm and uh that put it about here wouldn't it yeah 4' 8 in from the north pedestrian crosswalk right there yeah they found particles of broken glass there's the shot of that checked them at the Lighthouse their lenses from a Ford 1940 that's the picture on them and here's the um gutter of the northwest corner they found that bumper guard I checked it it's new any brand name on it no and they're sold all over the country there's nothing there how about skid marks any sign of them well none that they could find either the kid didn't have time to use these brakes or he didn't want to that's what they got there there's some rubber from a tire Lee says he thinks they were made when the kid dug out to get away spun the back wheel look that we M sure indicates that he didn't mean to stop at any time well that's the way Lee's got it figure too well there not much to go on is it no they've come easier well then go out and check the neighborhood again they might be able to turn up a decent description mhm you start check in the garages in the morning try to turn the car with a broken headlight and a missing bumper guard huh got get run FY Friday yeah is there anybody there uh-huh no no keep it under surveillance yeah no we'll be right out be careful don't burn it right bye that looks like it's begin to go our way what do you got they found the car [Music] Frank and I notified the crime lab of the find and then we left the office during a routine patrol of the streets in East Los Angeles a radio unit had come across a car parked at the curb of Vancouver Avenue they' stopped to investigate and found that it matched the description that we'd sent out we talked to the officers in the police car and they told us that they hadn't seen anybody near the vehicle we checked the white slip and we found that the registered owner was a Gregory Moore listed was a Hollywood address while the crime lab went over the car we drove out to Moore's address to talk to him he lived in a large house built in the mid 20s Frank covered the rear entrance while I rang the front [Music] doorbell yeah what do you want waking me up this hour of the night police officer you have a tenant here by the name of Gregory Moore what about it like to talk to him you're too late Mack he ain't here where is he do you know I don't know moved out this afternoon didn't say where he was going the manager told us that Mo had come home that morning packed his belongings and left the house we called the crime lab and Lieutenant Lee Jones told us that they'd established that Moore's car was the one that had run down the Chapman girl we talked to the other people in the roaming house none of them could tell us where Moore might have gone we put in a call to auto records but the car was not listed as being stolen Frank called the name into r I but he found he had no record from the occupants of the rooming house we found that the suspect had no relatives in this state and no close friends that they could recall in going over Moore's room we found a waste basket that he' used to dispose of Articles he didn't want in the basket we found several match folders from a bar over on West 7th Street we put in a call to the bar but we found that it was closed for the night from the manager of the roaming house we got a good description of the suspect along with the information that he received no mail and that he was apparently unemployed we asked that we be contacted immediately if the suspect returned 3:36 a.m. Frank and I checked out of the office and went home for the night Wednesday April 8th after we contacted DMV and asked that they give us all information on the car we drove over to the bar on West 7th Street it's not open yet don't open till 10: police officers we like some information license is back there in plain sight nothing going on in here you have a regular customer named Gregory Moore we just opened the doors we got no say about who comes in long as they don't cause trouble we don't guy about 21 58 to 510 165 lb blonde names Moore Gregory Moore what's he done we want to talk to him about what Police business you seen him nothing that's going to get the bar in trouble now look that's a very simple question Mister have you seen him maybe yeah tell me what this is all about and I might be able to help out now look you're running out of time here have you seen Gregory Moore yeah when last night here yeah he was in got liquored up by TOS him out when we closed where is he now you better ask him now look I'm going to tell you just once more if you know where he is you're going to save yourself a lot of time by cooperating with us I run a clean place here I don't want any trouble with the cops my license is back there I got no choice of the customers who come in I don't want to get mixed up in anything we're not calling it that way that's the way it is this is a clean Place yeah well that's not what the book says you've been tabbed a couple of times for serving miners you run be girls you haven't served straight liquor in here for a couple of years now if we have to get the information from you downtown that's the way it's going to be get your Cod well now look fellas I was just trying to take care of myself you did a real good job get your coat isn't there some way we can work this thing out I don't want no trouble all right where's Gregory Moore I tried to run a fine place a couple times I've been fooled now once more where is he I got him up at my place is he there now I guess he got pretty loaded last night he told me he didn't have any place to pad down I took him home what's the address 1862 and half Woodworth court room 14 all right let's go yeah and don't try to call him I got no phone in the room if he's done anything I had no part in it I was just trying to help a friend out that's all yeah sure you tell him that how he got me in trouble all because I tried to help him out yeah we'll do that tell him not to come around here no more tell him to keep out tell him that will you for me tell him not to come back don't you worry about it h he won't be back we called the office and requested that another team of detectives come out to keep the bartender under surveillance in the event that he might try to contact the suspect it took 5 and 1/2 minutes to drive to the Woodworth street address it was a large Building located at the end of a blind Street room 14 was on the third floor in the front of the building Frank and I approached the room and listened there was no sound from the [Music] inside only he matches the description yeah let's wake him up come on more wake up leave me alone Charlie I don't feel good go away and leave me alone come on more get up how many times what you guys what are you doing here police officers you're under arrest okay get out all right let me I'll do like you say just let me alone I ain't done nothing he clean got no reason to push me around all right come on let's go where where are we going downtown what for manslaughter I didn't do it you got the wrong one I Didn't Do It come on let's go but you got the wrong guy I didn't do it I didn't know what you wanted that's why I ran I didn't know what you wanted what you do now so let's go the suspect was taken to the squad room where he was question he refused to admit any part in the crime he was confronted with a physical evidence and with the ownership of the hit-and Run vehicle the witness to the crime came into the office and said that Gregory Moore was the man she'd seen at the wheel of the car when Helen Chapman had been run down throughout the interrogation the suspect refused to say anything where is he I know he's here I want to see him take it easy Chapman I heard you callau him I want to see him I want to tell him is that the kid we think so are you the one are you the one who killed Helen well answer me take it easy CH is he the one the evidence points that way yeah please I want you to do something for me what's that please get out of here go away please you know we can't do that Chapman this man's in custody please leave me alone with him come on Chapman let go outside just a minute listen to me kid don't they put you in that sell you get down on your knees and thank God they found you before I did you understand you thank him and every day you live you thank him you do that because I would have killed you all right CH my wife's dead because of him you hear that you killed her they got laws to save people like you but none for her none for her and my baby they didn't have any laws n for them come on pretty upset isn't he I want you to remember something yeah in the years I've been in this department I've seen some bad ones real bad teenage kids that didn't know any better scraped up off the pavement and sent home to their parents drunks that were too loaded to know what went on it's been a lot of them go through here but you finish way ahead of the field boy you talk good bet you're on a lecture team around here I'm getting fed up with you kids roaming the streets in those death traps of yours I don't care about you you want to wrap yourself around a post you go ahead we'll try to stop you but don't you take somebody else with you we've tried about everything in the books to make you understand doesn't look like any of them did any good you all through no not quite you killed a human being a woman who didn't even know you she never saw you until it was too late you threw a ton and a half of metal at a 120b woman then you ran away and left her in the gutter to die you wrecked a family you TOR it right down the middle and rolled over it you've ruined the lives of all the people around that woman you gave a group of decent kids a bad time because you stole their name now you get up on your feet and keep that smart mouth of yours closed you understand can I ask you something make it quick running that woman down how much will I get I don't know but it won't be [Music] [Applause] [Music] enough on October 14th trial was held in Department 97 superior court of the State of California in and for the County of Los Angeles in a moment the results of that trial the suspect was tried and found guilty of manslaughter one count and received sentence as prescribed by law manslaughter is punishable by imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for a period not not to exceed 5 [Music] years p l

Channel: M Sedillo

Views: 420,696

Keywords: Joe, Friday, Dragnet, TV, Classic, 50's, 60's, cop, police, los, angeles, PD

Id: 3oe2P49dRoU

Length: 26min 13sec (1573 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 16 2011