Class Assignment- The French Connection Clip

NYC Detective Fatally Shoots Suspected Assassin After Extensive Chase

A New York City Police Detective shot and killed a suspected assassin late Sunday afternoon. The assassin was allegedly working on belief of a French drug kingpin whom the detective had been investigating.
Detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle of the NYCPD’s Narcotics Division brought down Pierre Jeantot, of Nice, France, after an extensive chase. The chase began on foot after Jeantot fired at Doyle from the roof of an apartment building.
After running several blocks, Jeantot was able to elude Doyle by escaping onto an elevated train. Doyle responded by commandeering a car and following the train in a wild high speed chase down city streets, disrupting both vehicular and pedestrian traffic on the way from the 35th. St. Station to the 15th St. Station.
“All of a sudden I saw this big burgundy car coming in my direction and I just froze,” said Manhattan resident Margaret Johnson, who said she narrowly avoided being hit by Doyle as she crossed the street along with her 2-year-old in a stroller.
Numerous collisions also occurred directly or indirectly because of the chase. The car Doyle commandeered suffered extensive damage.
The chaos was not limited to the road level.
Jeantot held the trainman at gunpoint and forced him to bypass the 25th St. Station, believing that Doyle would follow him there. He shot and killed a conductor and police officer who were aboard the train when they confronted him. The trainman died at the controls of a heart attack.
City resident Betty Lou was in the elevated train that Jeantot escaped on.
“Once the train didn’t stop at the station I wanted, I realized something was really wrong,” she said.
Jeantot exited the train at the 15th St. Station. As he made his way down the stairs leaving the platform, he was confronted by Doyle. Doyle shot Jeantot in the back as he turned to get away.
City police officials find themselves reacting to a citywide controversy of whether Doyle’s actions were appropriate.
“I think he could have handled it in another way, because he put a lot of innocent lives in danger,” said Johnson.
NYC Police Chief Morgan Freeman said that Doyle simply did what was necessary.
“We commend Detective Doyle for his bravery in attempting to track down a dangerous criminal,” he said. “We believe that, in the end, he did the right thing.”
Freeman noted that time was a factor in Doyle’s decision, and that Jeantot would likely have gotten away were it not for his actions.
According to a press release from the office of Ruth L. Ess, New York City Police Commissioner, Jeantot is suspected to have been associated with a crime syndicate that had been laying the groundwork for a major heroin shipment into the city from France. Doyle and his partner, Buddy “Cloudy” Russo had been investigating the kingpin in charge of the organization.
“Let me just say that it is always unfortunate when these incidents end in a loss of life,” the release reads. “We would have preferred to see Jeantot prosecuted in the courts, and we believe Doyle was close to a breakthrough on the case.”
Two other men believed to be involved in the smuggling operation are being sought at this time.