A Cop Who Didn't Look Away.: Police Officer Michael Was 27 Years Old When He Attempted To Stop A Bank Robbery.

McConnnon, while off-duty, was walking to the bank to deposit his pay check when a woman screamed: "There's a robbery at the bank". McConnon drew his revolver and entered the vestibule of the bank and grabbed one of the three holdup men, then the second gunman shot him above the left eye.. McConnon was wearing the shield once worn by his father who retired from the force several years earlier.

Cops hurry-off Police Officer Micheal McConnon, wounded with a gun shot to the face, to Bellevue Hospital were he died in route to the emergency room. McConnon's shield 17940 is hanging from a pocket chain from the stretcher

The slain officer's father and mother grieve as police Commissioner Codd and David Rockefeller the Chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank also attend the funeral.

"He was one of the best cops I ever worked with. Mike never felt he did enough for people"

Jose Velez (top left) was shot in the arm by Officer McConnon and was captured two blocks from the bank. A chase Manhattan official gave this account: The three men, all wearing red ski masks, entered the bank, at 162 Third Ave, shortly after 1 p.m. All showed guns and one wielded a knife while another carried a firebomb. One suspect vaulted a counter and started cleaning out the teller cages and stuffing bills into an attache case. The bank employees and about 15 customers were kept at bay by the other two bandits, but somehow an unidentified women managed to run from the bank and , shouting "Robbery", she alerted McConnon, who was across the street and out of uniform. McConnon raced into the bank. He identified himself and was answered by a hall of bullets, police said. McConnon managed to get two shoots before being wounded.

Slain officer's mother Grace McConnon, mourns her son.

Fellow officers carry McConnon's casket to the church as police officers salute.

The first robber was convicted of knowingly killing a police officer and would receive the death penalty as required by New York State Law.

3,000 cops and friends salute as McConnon's coffin is brought to Holy Family Church in Hicksville, NY.

The Last Chapter of Shield 17940. After 20 years with worn by his father William, and worn by Michael for six years, i the shield was buried pinned to Michael's chest.

"He was one of the best cops I ever worked with. Mike never felt he did enough for people" McConnon was buried at Holy Rood Cemetery with Shield No. 17940 which he and his father had worn, pinned to his chest.

His father and I said "When you're on duty you have a job to perform. When you're off duty, look the other way a little bit. But he was not that way". Grace McConnon, Officer McConnon's mother

Mcconnon's parents received a hand written letter from the Director of the FBI Clarence M.Kelly

The Christmas lights of the McConnon house in Hicksville were not turned on after their son's death.

The NYPD Forensic team gathering evidence after the shooting.

A letter of condolence from President Ford.

A condolence letter from the chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank, David Rockefeller

A condolence letter from United States Attorney General William B. Saxbe

McConnon's gun and the gun of the Chase Manhattan's security Guard (the murder weapon) where stolen as the DA prepared for trail but it had no effect on the outcome of the case.

A Letter to Michael from his Cousin Margaret.

A photo of Officer McConnon being congratulated by his father, William, when he join the NYPD. Micheal joined the Department right after graduating from Bishop Loghlin High School in Brooklyn in 1964 where he served as a NYPD cadet for three years. When he turned 21 years old he then became a police officer. Michael's dad William was award the NYPD-PBA Medal of Honor in 1958, and Officer Michael McConnon was awarded the NYPD Medal of Valor (posthumously) in 1975.

Mayor Beame with Commissioner Codd and David Rockefeller look on the arrival of Officer McConnon's coffin

The third suspect, then age 21, was a fugitive from Yardville Prison, where he was serving life for the murder of a 27 year old woman of Woodstown, New Jersey. In October of 1971 the mother of three had caught the suspect in her newly bought home. They knifed her to death, leaving their fingerprints and the suspect also had a Juvenal record and was sentenced to life imprisiment. Incredably the suspect was allowed a New Year's furlough to visit his home but did not return to Yardville on January 2, 1975 and robbed the bank on January 3, 1975

The third suspect was not apprehended until September 1975 and killed two more victims and stabbed a third in three different incidents.

A nationwide alert went out for the suspect and he was already involved in a incredible sojourn of crime and violence: 15 store hod ups in Los Angeles, killing a motel night clerk by a shotgun, and stabbing another clerk left for dead. He then was linked to a Minneapolis liquor store owner who was found handcuffed and drowned in the bathtub of his home and also committed crimes in Chicago and was finally captured when stealing a car to use in a bank holdup in Florida.

A letter from a woman that was in the bank when McConnon was killed.

The first robber was convicted of knowingly killing a police officer and would receive the death penalty

In 1972, the United States Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment then practiced in the United States violated the Eight Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment because it was arbitrary and "freakish" where some defendants could be sentenced to death while others were allowed to live. This lead to the September 1974 enactment of the New York death penalty statute. McConnon's death was the test case.

After the 1st degree conviction, a judge ruled their death penalty for killing a cop in the line of duty unconstitutional, and the robbers were sentenced to 25 years to life.

Death penalty conviction overturned by judge.