Badge:  D12
Age:  55
Served:  31½ years
November 1, 1940 to September 13, 1972

To combat bank robberies in the early 1970s, the Robbery Squad Commander, Lieutenant James Daley arranged with the Fifth Third Bank Company to have plain-clothes police officers work off duty posing as tellers or bank managers.  Detective Smith had worked many of these details, most of which were at the nine riskiest branches – one of which was the Mohawk Branch at 2026 Central Parkway.

On December 20, 1971, at 10:08 a.m., Detective Smith was posing as a teller at the Mohawk Branch when two armed men walked in wearing masks.  One, later identified as 19-year-old Raymond Sams, announced their intent to rob the bank then discharged a sawed off shotgun over Detective Smith’s head, into a back wall.  Detective Smith pulled his .38 Special revolver and took a couple of shots at Sams, but missed.  The other robber, later identified as 17-year-old Isaac Beasley, who Detective Smith probably had not seen, was able to get behind the tellers’ cages and, with a .22 caliber pistol, shot Detective Smith in the back.  The searing pain caused Detective Smith to collapse to his knees and then Beasley walked up to him and shot him in the head.  The two would be robbers fled the bank without any money, got into a Buick Electra 225, and drove to Detroit, Michigan.

Cincinnati Police Communications Section broadcasted a call for assistance at the bank.  Patrolmen Howard Nichols and Marty Kelly were in Findlay Market – very close to the bank – and the first car to arrive.  Detective Smith walked out holding a towel to his head, got into the backseat of their patrol car, and said, “I’m dead.”   They rushed him to Cincinnati General Hospital in three minutes, during which he said twice more, “I’m dead.”  Upon arrival, Detective Smith got out of the patrol car and walked into the emergency room.  Doctors performed emergency surgery, including a craniotomy, but chose not to remove the two bullets; one in the brain and one near his spinal cord. 

The Robbery Squad conducted the investigation, including Lieutenant Daley, Detective Bluhm, and Specialists Ed Heinzelman, John Day, Gus Feldman, and Wilson Day.  A bank camera showed the car that the suspects fled in.  There was also a vagrant in the area who, after hypnosis, was able to relate most of the license number of the getaway car.  Still conducting normal business, Specialists Heinzelman and Feldman interviewed a man who had been arrested by Police Officer Daniel Steers after a business robbery of a pony keg in Carthage.  The man turned out to be Sams and he eventually admitted to his part in the Smith shooting.  They then found Beasley, confronted him with Sams’s confession, and then he too confessed.

Detective Smith remained in critical condition for 8¾ months and endured several surgical procedures.  He deteriorated gradually and never regained more than a semi-conscious state.  He finally expired, emaciated and wasted, on September 13, 1972 at 3:30 a.m.

Detective Smith left a wife, Frances.  He was buried in Spring Grove Cemetery.  Frances joined him 28 years later after dying December 31, 1999.

Raymond Sams, of 674 Glenwood Avenue, was convicted of 1st Degree Murder and the pony keg robbery and sentenced to die in the electric chair.  His sentence was commuted and he was paroled during September 2002.  He was last known to reside in Avondale.

Isaac Beasley of 792 North Crescent Avenue was also convicted of 1st Degree Murder, sentenced to die in the electric chair, had his sentence commuted, and was paroled during June 2002.  He was last known also to reside in Avondale.

Much of the information in this narrative came from interviews conducted by Lieutenant Joseph W. Hall (RET), of Patrolman Howard Nichols (RET) and Specialist Gus Feldman (RET). If you have further information, artifacts, or pictures of this officer, please contact the Museum Director at Director@GCPHS.com.