NYACK, NY — The New York State Parole Board has granted a pardon to Judith Clark, one of the domestic terrorists involved in the deadly 1981 Brinks robbery in New York.
Rockland County Executive Ed Day, one of many local officials who fought to keep her imprisoned, issued a statement in response:
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Today’s ruling by the parole board is a cruel and unjust slap in the face to the families of Sergeant Edward O’Grady, Officer Waverly “Chipper” Brown and Brinks guard Peter Paige. This perversion of justice is a sad continuation of the deadly assault on police officers happening across our Nation and signals to the criminal element that it is open season on cops. The parole board and the elected officials responsible for allowing this domestic terrorist to walk free should be ashamed.
It’s been 37 years since the bloody day and Rocklanders have not forgotten. A ceremony is held annually at 4 p.m. Oct. 20, at the Mountainview entrance to the New York State Thruway just off Route 59.
That’s where Sgt. Edward O’Grady and Officer Waverly “Chipper” Brown were gunned down after the armored car heist when they stopped a U-Haul truck that was part of the getaway convoy. The radical leftists had already killed Peter Paige, a Brinks security guard, at the Nanuet Mall.
Clark, now 69, was a member of the Weather Underground and a getaway driver. She was 32 when she was sentenced to 75 years to life in 1983. Defiant at her trial, she later rehabilitated herself, her supporters said.
She had sought and been denied clemency. In 2016 Gov. Andrew Cuomo commuted her sentence so that she could go before the state parole board. Based on her original sentence, she would have been 106 years old before she became eligible, leaving her without an opportunity to appear before the parole board during her natural lifetime, the governor’s office said. She first went before the parole board in 2017 and was denied.
“We are extremely disappointed with the decision of the parole board,” said Acting Rockland County District Attorney Kevin Gilleece. “Judith Clark is a cold-blooded cop killer who chose to participate in bank robbery, anarchy and murder that left three men dead. Because of her complete disregard for human life and the sheer brutality of the crime, parole should never have been granted for this convicted murderer.”
Rockland County Legislators Toney Earl, Nancy Low-Hogan, Aney Paul, Alden Wolfe, Harriet Cornell, Michael Grant, Jay Hood, Phil Soskin, Aron Wieder and Itamar Yeger issued this statement on the parole granted to Brinks’ getaway driver Judith Clark:
This is a difficult decision to comprehend for anyone who remembers the tragedy of Oct. 20, 1981, when Nyack Police Sgt. Edward O’Grady and Officer Waverly “Chipper” Brown, along with Brinks’ Guard Peter Paige, were needlessly and mercilessly fatally gunned down by a group of extremely violent domestic terrorists. The perpetrators of these crimes, including Judith Clark, were bent on robbery and creating anarchy.
The families, friends, and all who knew these men have lived with their loss for decades. They have been robbed of companionship, birthdays, anniversaries, the birth of grandchildren and so much more.
This crime changed our county’s self-identity from that of an idyllic suburb to that of a place where terribly violent crime could – and did – invade what we believed was our safe space.
Our thoughts are focused on the families and friends of Sgt. O’Grady, Officer Brown and Security Guard Paige. We will never forget the sacrifice made by these men.
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PHOTO: In this Nov. 24, 1981 file photo, Weather Underground member Judith Clark is handcuffed as she is escorted into Rockland County Courthouse, in New City, N.Y. Supporters of Clark, a former radical activist who has served more than 36 years of a life sentence for her role in a deadly 1981 Brinks heist, asked a state panel to grant her parole. (AP Photo/David Handschuh, File)