Rockland reporter Bill Demarest attended the recent Sunday, October 20, ceremony to recognize and remember the men who died during the long-ago Brink’s armored truck robbery. The incident shocked the local law enforcement community and was a factor in the eventual demise of the Village of Nyack police force.

Sacrifices Not Forgotten: Slain Nyack police officers, Brink’s guard honored at Nyack ceremony

NYACK – Anyone who lived in Rockland County on Oct. 20, 1981, usually can remember where they were that day – when domestic terrorism struck home with the Brink’s armored truck robbery at the Nanuet Mall and a deadly shootout in Nyack.

Orangetown Police Chief Kevin Nulty remembers that, at the time, he and his family lived on Gail Drive in Nyack, just a short distance up Mountainview Avenue from the Exit 11 ramps to the New York State Thruway. Thirty-two years later, Nulty on Sunday was the keynote speaker at the ceremony  to remember the lives of three men killed that day in the Brink’s armored car robbery: Nyack Police Officer Waverly “Chipper” Brown and Sergeant Edward O’Grady, and Brink’s guard Peter Paige.

A memorial park at Mountainview Avenue and Route 59 marks the location where O’Grady and Brown were shot and killed, and a memorial service that spills out onto Mountainview Avenue and Route 59 is held each year to remember the victims, their families and the members of the law enforcement community who were involved in the Brink’s chase, arrests and prosecution.

“The robbery shook Rockland to its core,” said Nulty, telling hundreds of people gathered for the memorial ceremony that it was the Brink’s robbery in Rockland County that brought domestic terrorism to the forefront of the nation’s attention. “The law enforcement community in Rockland has never really healed from that day.”

While the memorial service traditionally has a large showing from Rockland’s law enforcement community, it is also attended by many local residents and by people who worked in the immediate area at the time of the shootout at Thruway entrance in Nyack.

Nulty said that the bravery of O’Grady and Brown as they stood their ground in stopping a getaway truck from the Brink’s robbery continues to serve as an example of dedication to public safety for today’s law enforcement community. Additionally, Nulty cited Brink’s survivors Nyack Detective Arthur Keenan and Police Officer Brian Lennon for their bravery during the gun battle at the Thruway roadblock that had been set up to close an escape route for the Brink’s robbers.

In the years after the Brink’s robbery, the Village of Nyack determined it could no longer afford its own police department. Officers of the Nyack force were merged into the Orangetown and Clarkstown police departments. Orangetown covers most of Nyack and its busy downtown, with Clarkstown covering the section of the village’s west side that is located in the Town of Clarkstown.

While the memorial service is organized and led by Rockland’s law enforcement community, family members of the Brink’s victims continue to participate in the annual memorial. On Sunday, Rachel Brown, granddaughter of Police Officer Waverly Brown, sang twice and Michael Paige, son of Brink’s Guard Peter Paige, addressed the hundreds gathered for the ceremony.

“It is a comfort to the families knowing how much you care,” Paige told the crowd and then gave his own personal salute to the members of the law enforcement community gathered on Mountainview Avenue.

In addition to the annual memorial service, a scholarship fund was created to honor Police Officer Brown and Sergeant O’Grady. Each year, the O’Grady-Brown Scholarship Fund supports local graduating high school seniors who are planning to pursue a career in law enforcement.

Visit Nyack Free Press to see Bill Demarest’s extensive photographic coverage of the Nyack ceremony.