Police Officer Dillon Stewart was a five-year veteran of the NYPD when he started his tour on the night of November 27, 2005.  It was a Sunday night, and surely the midnight platoon of the 7-0 Precinct was hoping for a slow end to the weekend.  It was not meant to be.

As November 27^th turned to November 28^th, Dillon and his partner were in a dark unmarked Impala, conducting enforcement in the area of Church and Flatbush Avenues.  At 2:50 Stewart and his partner Paul Lipka observed a maroon Infinity run a red light.  They pursued, eventually pulling alongside the Infinity.  The driver brandished a pistol and fired 9mm rounds into the officer’s vehicle. 

One of the shots found its mark.  It struck Dillon Stewart in the side.  The bullet managed to find the crease between the front and rear panels of his bullet resistant vest.  Initially, not realizing he was shot, Stewart re-initiated the pursuit.  The Infinity drove into a basement parking lot on East 21^st Street, the door closing as it entered. 

It was then that Stewart realized he was severely wounded.  The bullet had perforated his heart.  Raced to Kings County Hospital, Dillon Stewart could not be saved.  After a gallant 5-hour fight, Stewart succumbed to his injury.   

The perp was identified as career violent criminal Allen Cameron.  He had been arrested numerous times and had an outstanding felony assault warrant out of Pennsylvania.  Unbeknownst to Stewart and Lipka, Cameron had robbed and shot an off-duty NYPD cop the week before.  Cameron was arrested in his girlfriend’s apartment near the parking garage. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.   

Dillon Stewart was posthumously promoted to Detective 1^st Grade and awarded the NYPD’s Medal of Honor.  He left behind his wife and two children.   As a result of his sacrifice, the NYPD and the Police Foundation provided new, improved bullet resistant vests to all its officers.  The new vests had overlapping panels to prevent the injury that took Detective Stewart’s life. 

On a personal note, the murder of Dillon Stewart was the first, but unfortunately not the last, police homicide that I assisted in investigating.  Members of the Detective Borough Bronx and I were sent out to the 70 to assist.  Our role was small, but we were proud to do our part to help.  It is a day I will never forget. 

Photo by Jim.henderson, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Thanks for reading The Ops Desk!