At 4:08 p.m. Sunday, New York Police Detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, assigned to the Narcotics Division, shot and killed a suspected assassin, Pierre Jeantot, 36, of Nice, France. Jeantot was allegedly working on behalf of a French drug kingpin whom Doyle and his partner, Buddy “Clouddy” Russo, had been investigating.
Jeantot was killed by one shot from Doyle’s service revolver at the bottom steps of the 15th St. elevated railway platform. The shooting came at the end of a long chase which Doyle pursued the suspect by car from 35th St. Station.
It was the scene of a dramatic crime film plot. Jeantot hijacked the train. Doyle chased the train in a commandeered car below.
Four deaths have resulted from the pursuit. Betty B. Badluck, 63, of the Bronx; Roland Evans, 34 of Brooklyn; Horatio C. Hornblower, 30, of white Plains; and Peter Howe, 27, of Queens.
Cameron Johnson, 20, was outside Det. Doyle’s apartment on West 57th Ave when the commotion started. Doyle was walking down a sidewalk, where a small child on a tricycle rode by and rang his bell. There was a woman in front of Doyle as he was walking. When the two adults passed, three shots were fired at both Doyle and the woman from a building about 100 yards away.
Badluck was killed instantly when she took a bullet while walking with her granddaughter.
Few people were in the area to try and help Badluck. Det. Doyle quickly checked Badluck until another shot rang out. Doyle dove to cover behind a nearby tree, where he exclaimed, “there’s a sniper,” to notify the bystanders. The fifth shot hit the tree, and Doyle got a quick view of the sniper. The sixth shot, just missing Doyle, prompted him to run and take cover by the wall of the apartment building.
Steve Moreau, 25, was a bystander on the street where Det. Doyle chased the elevated train from below. Doyle was in the middle of the street demanding to use a citizen’s car to pursue Jeantot, believed to have escaped on a nearby elevated subway train. “He drove like a maniac,” Moreau said, where Doyle apparently drove up onto the sidewalk on numerous occasions.
Screaming pedestrians quickly jumped out of Det. Doyle’s way. Cars on the opposite side of the road swerved about when. Doyle rocketed towards them head-first, straddling the median. Doyle managed to recover from a near-fatal collision with another driver. No motorists or pedestrians were killed.
Sharon Bradley, 35, sat on the pursued subway train minding her own business. Suddenly a well-dressed middle-aged man moved quickly throughout the car of the train. “It was anarchy,” Bradley said. Jeantot hijacked the train operator’s booth at gunpoint to make sure the train rattled through the oncoming stations. The pursuit was hot.
Hornblower, the train’s conductor, and a group of others approached the train operator’s door. Jeantot came out, gun in hand. As Hornblower stepped forward to have the suspect drop his weapon, Jeantot shot and killed Hornblower point-blank. Passengers screamed in horror.
The train suddenly came to a churning halt, where Jeantot lost his .44 Magnum revolver. Jeantot departed the train in haste.
Kathleen Moreau, 55, witnessed Jeantot’s demise. Jeantot escaped the car of the elevated train. He carefully balanced along train beams and made his way through narrow stairs to get to the nearby station. Det. Doyle, who stopped his car beneath the elevated track, caught a glimpse of Jeantot, exited the vehicle, and quickly pursued on foot.
Unbeknownst to Det. Doyle’s cunning, escape was on the tip of Jeantot’s tongue. As Jeantrot made his way through the station, he saw Doyle waiting for him at the stairs that led to the street below.
Jeantot turned to make a run for it. Doyle screamed for the suspect to “hold it.” The suspect was then shot and killed in action.
Det. Doyle, who was not present to comment, remains a local hero, despite the tragic death of innocent citizens.
New York City Police commissioner Ruth L. Ess commended Det. Doyle for his bravery and quick thinking under very trying circumstances. “It is always unfortunate when these incidents end in a loss of life,” Ess said.
Police officers recovered an automatic rifle and several shell casings from the roof of the apartment building where shooting first took place. Jeantot was suspected of assassinating Doyle.
According to Homeland Security records, Jeantot entered the country on Nov. 4 after a flight from Paris, France. Jeantot was suspected to be associated with a crime syndicate that had been laying the groundwork for a major heroin shipment from France to New York City.
“We will continue a vigorous and thorough investigation into what appears to be a major smuggling operation,” Ess said. “We will not sit still while drug dealers walk our streets.”
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