Last Known Activity:
On May 6, 1969, off-duty Detective Brian Graft and Police Officer Bruce Bonney, were working second jobs as security officers at a trucking firm located at 1300 N 10th St. While monitoring police calls on Detective Graft's radio, they heard the descripiton of a man wanted for a shooting that had just occurred. Spotting a man who matched the description walking on the east side of 10th St., the officers approached him and identified themselves as police officers. The man drew a .25 caliber pistol and fired at Detective Graft, striking him in the left chest, then turned and shot Officer Bonney in the left leg. The officers were able to return fire,however the assailant was able to flee on foot. Detective Graft's wound proved to be fatal.
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Comments/Citation:
It was ironic that the murder of Detective Brian Graft resulted from a radio call the Officer monitored while he was off duty. He was known to his contemporaries as a highly motivated and well respected young detective. It was not at all unusual for him to respond to incidents or to the aid of other officers, even when he was off duty.
The robbery and shooting of a hotel owner was just the first of a series of tragic events that were to occur on May 6, 1969. By the end of the day, Detective Brian Graft would be dead at the age of twenty-five. The incident began about 8:40 p.m. at the Belcher Hotel, 407 Lucas Avenue. There, fifty-one year-old Ruben gordon, the hotel owner, threatened twenty-three year-old Darnell Daniels with eviction. As Daniels and a companion were leaving the hotel, Daniels walked up to Gordon and shot him in the abdomen with a .25 caliber automatic pistol. Daniels and his companion fled from the hotel in an automobile. After a description was broadcast of the man wanted for the hotel shooting, Mobile Reserve Kenneth Hubbard and Robert Burnette spotted Daniels in the car. A pursuit began.
Seeing the officers, Daniels abandoned the car in the 1200 block of North Ninth Street and began running on foot. At the time of the hotel shooting and pursuit, two police officers, Bruce Bonney and Brian Graft, were off duty and working a second job as security officers at Consolidated Forwarding Company, located at 1300 North Tenth Street. Seated in a vehicle, the officers monitored the police call on Detective Graft's radio. They heard the description of the man wanted for the shooting at the hotel.
The officers saw a man who matched the broadcast description as he walked out of the trucking firm lot on the east side of Tenth Street. Suspecting they had located the man described in the boradcast, the officers got out of their car and walked toward Daniels. When they reached him they identified themselves as police officers.
Daniels immediately pulled a .25 caliber pistol and shot Detective Graft. The bullet struck the Detective in the left chest. Daniels then turned toward Officer Bonney and shot him in the left leg.
Despite being wounded, both officers managed to fire a total of ten shots at Daniels as he fled on foot. Detective Graft's wound in the left chest proved to be fatal. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. When word spread over the police radio of the shooting of Detective Graft and Officer Bonney, officers immediately converged on the area. Searching began for Daniels, who had fled on foot. During the minutes which followed, a running gun battle occurred between Daniels and police officers at the scene. During the pursuit, twenty-six year-old Clarence west, an employee of Consolidated Freight who had joined in the search, was fatally shot.
After West was shot, Officer Martin Heischmidt, assigned to District Four, exchanged shots with Daniels as he chased him on Eleventh Street. After firing all six shots, Officer Heischmidt finnally overtook Daniels, who still had the .25 caliber pistol in his hand.
Officer Heischmidt jumped on top of Daniels. During the struggle, Daniels struck Heischmidt in his face several times, pointed th gun at him and pulled the trigger. Fortunately, the gun was now empty and did not fire.
Daniels continued to struggle with Officer Heischmidt, striking the officer in the face with the pistol. Though seriously injured, Heischmidt held Daniels on the ground until other officers arrived and assisted him in arresting Daniels.
Daniels was taken to City Hospital and was listed in serious condition. He had suffered gunshot wounds of the left leg, left arm, abdomen and head. Officer Bonney suffered a gunshot wound of the right thigh and Officer Heischmidt suffered injuries to his face and right leg.
In his short time on the Department, Detective Brian Graft had earned the respect and adminartion of all who knew him. Although young, Detective Graft became a detective long before it would normally occur. Even while off duty and working as a security guard, he listened to police calls. Ironically, his dedication played a part in his death.
Detective had taken the extra security job to support his mother and grandmother, and to purchase a duplex into which the family was preparing to move. The Detective, single, was only twenty-five at the time of his death. He left a mother, brother, sister and grandmother.
http://www.slmpd.org/memorial/memorial.html
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