I bag on the IMPD a lot for their ongoing public relations crisis surrounding some high-profile OWI (officering while intoxicated) cases, so it's only fair that I report that the department has another side as well.
In the wee hours of last Friday morning, on the northwest side of town, a dirtbag who had recently been released from prison where he'd been serving time on felony dope charges got into an altercation with his girlfriend. Whatever the altercation was about, this guy figured that his domestic issues could be resolved by holding his girlfriend and her baby at gunpoint in their apartment.
At some point, she got out onto the balcony and screamed for help. A neighbor called the cops. There was the sound of gunfire from inside the apartment.
IMPD officer Rod Bradway was first on the scene and apparently engaged in some shouting through the locked door with the dirtbag and, when the man's girlfriend started screaming again, Bradway kicked in the door and went through.
The dirtbag had been hiding behind the door and opened fire, catching Bradway in the side, between the front and back panels of his vest. Bradway returned fire as he fell, and apparently his covering officer killed the dirtbag, but Officer Rod Bradway died of his wounds.
But he fell forward, with a gun in his hand, doing the right thing; risking his life to save another.
There are a lot worse things to have carved on one's tombstone.
.
Long time Lurker, but as an infantryman, I understand this brave mans sacrifice. We may shout at their superiors for the bad policies and at individual officers for bad decisions, but as a whole, LEO's are good and hard-working folk who willing risk their life for complete strangers. I thank you, Tam, for bringing us this story of selflessness. I hope his family finds peace in knowing he is a Hero in the trues sense of the word.
ReplyDeleteI eat lunch at work with a guy who, as it turns out, had known Officer Bradway since college. According to his testimony, the man was a public servant from the start, and never wanted to do anything else. God bless him and his family. We need a lot more like him.
ReplyDeleteHe is truly a rare individual. He will be missed.
ReplyDeleteNow if the indy paper of record has it somewhere other than the back pages below the fold.
Thanks for this post. Well said and simply put, this man deserves everyone's respect and his family our sympathy.
ReplyDeleteIMPD should clone him to replace the drunk officers.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fine man. RIP
gfa
It happens every day, we only notice when someone dies.
ReplyDeleteGo toward the guns is part of the job expectations, so being a hero is only meeting minimum standards.
When Officer Bradway gets where he is going, may he find Peace, the love of family that has gone before him, and the company of brave righteous souls who died facing their enemies who will swear he is their brother.
ReplyDeleteI always find myself trying to come up with something poetic to sum up the bravery and courage it takes to kick down a door with an armed bad guy on the other side, I continue to fail. However, if you had to go out, going out ensuring that two innocent people continue to live while smoking the dirtbag trying to do them harm is about as good as most can ask for.
ReplyDeleteI hope that his children understand how much their father means to the rest of the community and that it brings them some comfort in the times to come.
Words always fail me in these cases.
ReplyDeleteVaya con Dios, Officer Bradway
I have nothing but admiration for officers like this, who do their duty, deal with the crap The Job produces, and honor the Oath they took. And nothing but contempt for the drunkards, power tripping despots and those who see the Badge as a hunting licence...
ReplyDeleteI have nothing but admiration for officers like this, who do their duty, deal with the crap The Job produces, and honor the Oath they took. And nothing but contempt for the drunkards, power tripping despots and those who see the Badge as a hunting licence...
ReplyDeleteTo protect and serve...
ReplyDeleteRIP. My most earnest condolences to his family and friends.
ReplyDeleteIt is always the best that are lost isn't it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, from the article he had recently been honored as Hero of the Month by the PD. One that truely held up the honor of the department.
Damn.
ReplyDeleteRest In Peace Officer.
ReplyDeleteHooah damnit, Bradway. They have a drink waiting for you at the Green.
ReplyDeleteHe was a good man.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, IMPD doesn't take the wrong lesson and use it as an excuse to introduce new rules and restrictions on their serving force.
Instead, they need to lift him up as an example for all other officers to aspire to. A true hero.
He earned his much deserved rest. My heart goes out to his friends and family. The world lost a good man.
ReplyDeleteGreater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13.
ReplyDeleteOr a stranger.
And it's men such as Officer Bradway who give me hope that we may, at some undefined point in the future, successfully sort out this sorry mess we find ourselves in.
ReplyDeleteGeodkyt's right, definitely one waiting for this man at the Green.
Hero. Salute.
ReplyDeleteMay he rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteUlises from CA, whose cousin is a cop, too.
Vale.
ReplyDeleteGod bless this man's sacrifice and his family who are in for the torment of a lifetime, despite the fact that he did what he swore to do.
ReplyDeleteSo many these days don't.
Stud.
ReplyDelete"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived." Gen. George S. Patton
ReplyDeleteNo doubt Odin & Freyja are fighting to see if he ends up in Valhalla or Fólkvangr.
Shai Dorsai.
ReplyDeleteLittleRed1
Duty Honor. Thank you, God, that we have men (and women) such as this. "Thus be it ever, When freemen shall stand, Between their loved home and the war's desolation!" (Key, Star Spangled Banner, 1814)
ReplyDeleteRide to the sound of the guns and to the calls of the distressed.
ReplyDeleteThat's what the brave do - regardless of the cost.
RIP Officer Bradway.
Regards
Gregory K. Taggart