It was a cold early morning around 3:30 a.m. on February 26, 1988. Four days past his 22nd birthday, rookie cop Eddie Byrne was sitting alone in his squad car outside the South Jamaica Queens home of a drug case witness name Arjune. PO Byrne was there to protect a member of the public who had been threatened by one of the many drug dealers who were causing havoc on the city streets at that time.
Days earlier one of the city's drug kingpins, "Pappy" Mason, had put out a contract on the life of a cop, any cop, in retaliation for his having been locked up. $8,000 was all he figured the life of a cop was worth. A dog cage in the back of Byrnes' patrol car blocked his view of the beat up yellow Dodge that rolled up behind him. Inside that car were Philip Copeland, Todd Scott, Scott Cobb, and David McClary. The four were intent on collecting their blood money.
Suddenly a face appeared in the passenger window of Byrnes' patrol car. PO Byrnes reached for his weapon but it was too late. McClary, who had snuck up to the drivers side of the cop car stood inches away. He leveled his revolver at Officer Byrnes' head and fired five times. PO Byrnes did not stand a chance. All four were eventually caught, convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life for this heinous act. After being convicted a grinning McClary turned to the courtroom and, adding insult to injury, blew a kiss to the mother of the man he murdered.
Next month these four murderers will be up for parole. Please help send a message to the parole board that under no circumstances should they ever see the light of a free day again. Follow the link http://www.nycpba.org/miscellaneous/copkillers.html to send a letter to the parole board to urge that these, and other, cop-killers remain in jail.
