Dragnet 1967 (1967) s01e12 Episode Script

1
[Friday Narrating]
This is the city— Los Angeles, California.
It's a city on wheels,
constantly on the move.
There are three and a half million cars
in Los Angeles,
over 132 miles of freeways.
The maximum speed limit
is 65 miles an hour.
This is Central Receiving Hospital.
On an average day,
there are 1 6 1 accidents.
Every month 37 people die.
It's a high price to pay
to get somewhere in a hurry,
especially
when they never get there.
This is where their cars end up,
what's left of them.
This is where the victims end up,
what's left of them.
When they do, I go to work.
I carry a badge.
It was Thursday, June 26.
It was clear in Los Angeles.
We were working the day watch
out of Felony Follow-up Section,
Accident Investigation Division.
The boss is Captain Janes.
My partner's Bill Gannon.
My name's Friday.
A t the request
of Public Information Division,
Bill and I had a breakfast meeting with
Herald-Examiner reporter Norm Jacoby.
We met at a place across the street
from the police building
called The Shield Cafe.
[Man Narrating]
The story you are about to see is true.
The names have been changed
to protect the innocent.
You sure I can't buy you two
some breakfast?
No, thanks, Jake. We've eaten.
Mmm. Kinda hungry.
Bacon and eggs
sure smells good.
Did you get that art
for me?
Right here, Jake.
Good.
We'll look at it in a minute.
As I mentioned to Cooke in P.I.D.,
paper wants a rather broad piece
on accidents.
- Like to take in the entire state,
not just L.A. Okay?
- Right. What do you need?
In the state of California,
what makes traffic the big problem?
Well, for one thing, there are
over 18 million people in the state.
There are over
10 million registered vehicles.
- How does that compare to other states?
- Far more, Jake.
One out of
every nine automobiles in the nation
is registered here in California.
What can you give me
on the number of traffic accidents
in L.A. last year?
Fifty-eight thousand,
nine hundred and ten.
- How many people killed?
- Four hundred and fifty-two.
- And injured?
- Forty-nine thousand.
You two remember your figures
pretty well, don't you?
You do when you live with them every day
and watch them go up.
How about tailgating—
the guy behind you who rides
your rear bumper all the way?
Probably
the single major cause of pileups.
If people would just apply
the basic rule of following—
allow one car length
behind the car ahead of you for every
10 miles of speed you're traveling.
If you're going 60,
allow six times the length of your car
in order to stop safely.
All right, let's get to the art.
You'll notice that most of these photos
were taken on the freeways.
- A great many of them
were head-on collisions.
- Yeah.
Most people are driving them
at 65 to 70 miles an hour.
But let's just take
a speed of 55 miles an hour,
and there's a head-on.
- Do you have any idea what happens
in that first second of the impact?
- Suppose you tell me.
Well, among others, Cornell University
has done quite a bit of study
on the nature of auto crashes.
- Yeah, I know.
- Their people have taken
that first second of impact
and they've broken it down
into tenths.
You're driving 55 miles an hour
and you have a head-on.
This is what happens.
In the first tenth of that fatal second,
the front bumper and grille collapses.
During the second tenth,
your hood rises
and strikes the windshield.
Fenders begin wrapping themselves
around the object of collision.
You slam on the brakes,
but your body is still moving
at 55 miles an hour.
You stiffen your legs for the jolt,
but they both snap at the knee joint.
During the third tenth of a second,
your body catapults from the seat.
Broken knees
ram into the dashboard.
The steering wheel begins to collapse.
The steering column
drives toward your chest.
In the fourth tenth,
two feet of the car's front end
are totally demolished,
but the rear end is still traveling
at 35 miles an hour.
Your body
is moving forward at 55.
In the fifth tenth,
your body's impaled
on the steering column.
Blood rushes into your lungs.
During the sixth tenth,
the force of impact has built up so that
your feet are ripped out of their shoes.
The brake pedal shears off.
The car frame
buckles in the middle.
Your head
slams into the windshield.
In the seventh tenth of a second,
the entire car body is distorted.
Hinges rip off,
doors spring open,
the seat flails loose,
striking you from behind.
But it really doesn't matter.
You're dead.
You aren't around to experience
the final three-tenths of this one second.
Neither are your passengers.
It doesn't take long to die.
[Friday Narrating]
Bill and I reported back
to Accident Investigation Division.
We finished work for the day
and were just getting ready to go home.
Captain Janes had another idea.
4:45 p.m.
Sorry you have to work late.
Hit-and-run on Magnolia and Vermont.
Yeah?
Pedestrians were in
a marked crosswalk.
T-car'll be waiting for you.
Any word on the victims?
Both D.O.A.
[Friday Narrating]
4:52 p.m.
Because of outbound
evening commuter traffic,
it took us 20 minutes
to get to the scene of the accident.
The officers
who completed the initial report
met us at the location.
They filled us in.
The victims were an elderly man and woman.
They were crossing the street
from opposite directions when they were hit.
They both died instantly.
The officers had taken statements
from half a dozen witnesses.
They gave us their names.
They told us that two of the witnesses
were waiting for us in a nearby bar.
Ed Neiman?
Norton Bernard?
I'm Neiman.
This is Nort Bernard.
Police officers.
We're investigating that hit-and-run.
I understand you witnessed it.
- Yeah, we seen it.
- Did you see what kind of a car it was?
One of those big jobs, you know,
like a Lincoln or a Caddy.
Looked like a Buick to me.
Dark blue.
Was that the color—
dark blue?
Yeah, that's right.
You couldn't miss that.
There's got to have been
a dent in the front end
like you won't believe.
He must have been
makin' 60, easy.
- Anybody else with you two
at the time of the accident?
- Yeah. Talk to Dugan.
- He'll tell you I'm right. It was a Buick.
- Who's Dugan?
A buddy of ours. Cabdriver.
He saw the whole thing too.
Call him. He'll tell you I'm right.
- What's his full name?
- Dugan. Bob Dugan.
- You know his home address?
- No, but his cabstand's right outside.
You might catch him.
- Thanks.
- Wanna do me a favor?
- Yeah, what's that?
- When you find out what kind of car it is,
will you let me know?
[Friday Narrating]
5: 18 p.m.
A t the cabstand,
one of the drivers told us
that Dugan was off duty.
He checked with his dispatcher
and got Dugan's address.
It was in the neighborhood.
5:25 p.m. We drove
to Bob Dugan's address.
It was an apartment house
four blocks from the scene of the accident.
[Dugan]
Yeah? Who's there?
Police officers.
Yeah?
Did you witness a hit-and-run accident
at Magnolia and Vermont
this afternoon at 4:15?
Yeah.
We'd like to talk to you
about it.
I'd invite you in,
but the place is a mess.
How'd you guys find out I saw it?
- You wanna tell us what you saw?
- I got no time for that jazz.
If I had to play witness
for every accident I saw,
I'd spend half my life in a courtroom.
- You get paid for this kind of work. I don't.
- Are you gonna tell us what you saw?
Why not? You're here.
I was dropping off a fare
at a bar there and was
heading east on Magnolia.
There was a crosswalk right in front of me,
and this old lady stepped off the curb
just as I let my fare out.
It was a buck and a quarter
with a ten-cent tip.
I heard some jerk squeal his brakes
and I looked up just in time
to see an old lady and an old man get hit,
but good, by some joker in a Lincoln.
He was barreling down from Vermont.
He took off like the Russians
were in Pasadena.
- You say it was a Lincoln?
- Yeah. Dark blue.
New, maybe.
Well, it wasn't more than a year old.
You were pretty close.
Did you get the license number?
Could you describe the driver?
- Nah. He was moving too fast.
- You remember anything else about the car?
Bumper stickers,
anything like that?
- No, that's all.
- Okay. Thanks, Dugan.
- You figure I'm gonna have to go to court?
- Maybe.
I gotta lose a day's pay so somebody
can collect a big chunk of insurance money
on those two senior citizens?
- You'll do better than they did, won't you?
- How's that?
You're alive to collect yours.
[Friday Narrating]
7:33 p.m.
Before leaving the area
we interviewed three other witnesses.
Two of them
corroborated Dugan's statement.
We had
an Area "C" broadcast put out.
We described the hit-and-run vehicle
as a dark blue late-model Lincoln
with possible damage
to the windshield and front end.
7:48 p.m.
We returned to the office.
We filled the captain in
on what we had.
Lab's checking the victims' clothing
for traces of paint,
any other physical evidence.
I'd like to give what we've got
to the newspapers, radio and TV.
Go ahead.
If I had something to hide,
I wouldn't want
seven million people looking for it.
[Friday Narrating]
Friday, June 27.
As the result of the front-page play
the papers had given the story,
we'd had several phone calls.
8:33 a.m. We checked them all out,
but they led nowhere.
I called S. I. D. and talked
to forensic chemist Ray Murray.
His report was negative.
He had found nothing
on the victims' clothing we could go on.
Joe.
Might be somethin'.
Yeah.
Woman over on Magnolia
claims she saw the accident.
Yeah?
Says she knows
where the hit-and-run vehicle is.
The woman who called lived
in an apartment house
on the corner of Magnolia and Vermont.
8:48 a.m.
I'm glad you could come.
It's bothered me ever since I saw it
and didn't call the police right away.
When I read about it this morning,
I knew I couldn't live with myself
if I didn't tell everything I knew.
I saw the whole thing
right here from my window.
But I didn't know it was him
until this morning. I waited
until he left, and then I checked.
- You didn't know it was who, ma'am?
- Mr. Stuart, with a "U" in it.
He lives in the building,
practically next door.
I spotted him right away.
From the day he moved in
I knew he was strange.
Claims he's an architect.
But I checked. You know what he does?
Makes dolls. Builds toy houses.
He was the one
ran over those people.
This Stuart, what's his first name?
Would you know?
I would if he'd put
his first name on his mailbox.
But he doesn't. People like that never do.
What makes you so sure
that Stuart's the man
that ran those two people down?
I saw it happen
right out my window.
I thought he looked suspicious when
he came in last night, and this morning
he didn't take his car to work.
I went down to the garage—
We have indoor parking in this building—
and there it was— his car, all covered up.
What kind of car does he drive?
Oh, I don't know
about things like that.
But it's the same car
that hit those people.
I bet there's blood all over it.
- The car's parked in the garage?
- If he didn't sneak back in and slip it out.
But I've been watching.
I can see the driveway from here.
All right, Mrs. Bronson.
Thank you very much. We'll check it out.
It's my duty, isn't it?
I mean, as a good citizen and all.
It's not like I was meddling
in other people's business.
- No, ma'am.
- I don't like to mix in other people's affairs.
- But when I smell something wrong,
I keep my eyes open.
- Yes, ma'am.
More people do that,
be a better world.
A blue Lincoln it ain't.
[Friday Narrating]
9:20 a.m. Bill called the office
to fill the captain in.
He told us that a garage owner
on Pico Boulevard had called in.
He said that the previous night
he had replaced a shattered windshield
in a blue Lincoln sedan.
The garage was located on West Pico,
near La Cienega Boulevard.
It took us about 20 minutes
to get there. 9:40 a.m.
The owner's name was Gus Archer.
He showed us the windshield
he had removed from the blue Lincoln sedan.
Pulled it out of a blue '64 Lincoln.
Fella said he'd hit a dog.
Seemed pretty shook up
when he came in.
What time was that?
About 6:30, 7:00 last night.
Somewhere around there.
Said he needed the car this morning.
I told him I'd make him a good deal
on taking the dents out,
doing the rest of the body work.
He said he'd check with
his insurance man first and maybe
he'd get back for an estimate.
- You have his name, address?
- Sure.
I keep good records.
License number, registration,
all that right on the job sheet.
Had to charge him overtime for the labor.
I was here till 9:00 last night getting it done.
We're gonna have to
impound this windshield.
Sure. I read in the paper about
those two old people getting killed.
You figure
maybe this guy done it?
- Well, one thing's sure, isn't it?
- What's that?
He's gonna have to come up
with a better story
on that windshield.
[ No Audible Dialogue]
[Friday Narrating]
10: 15 a.m.
We took the damaged windshield
along with us.
It would be booked as evidence.
The registered owner
of the suspect vehicle
was Clayton Filmore.
The address was on Bradbury Street
in West Los Angeles.
Yes?
We're police officers.
We're looking
for a Clayton Filmore.
Yes?
May we come in?
All right.
I hope this won't take long.
I have an appointment, and I'm late.
You're Mrs. Filmore,
are you?
Yes.
Your husband at home?
No, he isn't.
What's he done this time?
- We'd like to talk to him.
- He's been drinking again. Is that it?
- We're investigating
a traffic accident, ma'am.
- And Clay's involved.
Do you or your husband own
a blue '64 Lincoln sedan?
[Sighs]
Clay does, yes.
- The car here now?
- He drove it to work.
- Where's that, Mrs. Filmore?
- The Craig Building on Wilshire.
All right.
Thank you, Mrs. Filmore.
- You'll forgive me if I don't
appear too interested in all this.
- How's that, Mrs. Filmore?
Nothing, absolutely nothing that Clay does
would surprise me anymore.
He hasn't always been this way.
- He wasn't when I married him.
- Is that right?
- Are you men married?
- I am.
Then maybe you can tell me—
What happens to a man
after five years of marriage?
Seems to be the magic number,
doesn't it? Five years.
What makes him change?
How can two people
feel they're so much in love,
and then fall out of love so easily?
- Oh, I wouldn't know, ma'am.
- Clay's rarely home these days.
This house
is just a way station for him,
a place to change his clothes,
park his car.
We go for days at a time
without seeing each other.
I wish I knew.
- I wish I knew what I've done wrong.
- Sorry, Mrs. Filmore.
And again, thank you.
I'm sorry too.
I guess all women become over talkative
at a time like this, don't they?
- How's that?
- When they're on the way
to see their lawyer about a divorce.
[Friday Narrating]
The Craig Building was less than eight blocks
from the scene of the hit-and-run accident.
10:46 a.m.
It was a new high-rise office building.
Filmore had an office on the 28th floor.
May I help you?
We're police officers.
We'd like to see
Clayton Filmore.
One moment.
There are two policemen
here to see you.
Go right in, please.
Thank you, miss.
Well, I've been
expecting you.
Coincidence
you should come just now.
My attorney, Paul Bateman.
My name's Friday.
This is Bill Gannon.
My car's parked
in the garage of this building
on the second level, space 36.
My attorney tells me
you'll probably impound it
as evidence.
He further advises me
to make no additional statement.
That correct, Paul?
That's right. I've informed my client
of his constitutional rights.
Please state the charge.
All right, sir. Mr. Filmore,
you're under arrest for 20001 V.C.,
hit-and-run felony,
and 192.3A P.C.,
felony manslaughter.
- All right. Suppose
we have to go downtown, huh?
- Yes, sir.
Uh, Marjory,
cancel my appointments
for the rest of the day.
Yes, sir.
Anything else?
Uh, you might call my wife
and tell her I won't
be home for dinner.
[Friday Narrating]
1 1:05 a.m.
Before we left the Craig Building,
we checked Clayton Filmore's car.
It was a blue '64 Lincoln sedan.
We made arrangements
to have it towed in to the
Central Property Impound Garage.
Filmore would be booked
on two counts of hit-and-run felony
and two counts of felony manslaughter.
How much longer
is this going to take, Paul?
- We should have you
out on bail in time for lunch.
- Fine.
Sergeant Friday, lead the way.
Don't look so hang-dog.
How old did you say those two were
that you say I hit?
The woman was 67.
The man was 73.
Well, I'm sorry, but it isn't as if they
were going to live much longer anyway.
Isn't that right?
I suggest that you don't
say anything more, Clay.
- But it's true. I am sorry.
- Well, sorry won't bring 'em back, Filmore.
A dedicated cop.
You have a right to remain silent, Clay.
I advise you to do so.
- There's no rule
against him listening, is there?
- Depends on what you say to him.
Yeah, well, I'll try to be careful.
Filmore, maybe as far as you're concerned
those two people lived all the life
you figure they should.
But what gives you the right
to end it for 'em?
It doesn't really bother you, does it?
You were in a 30-mile zone.
You were doing 50,
maybe 55 miles an hour.
Those two people you hit were knocked
77 feet, six inches down the street
from the point of impact.
We believe you'd been drinking this time too.
This isn't the first time for you.
You've got a drunk driving record
that goes back
to your high school days.
Every time you've beaten it,
haven't you?
Down the hall there
is Traffic Enforcement Division.
We've got good laws
and they try to enforce 'em,
but they've got an impossible job.
There are 130 miles of freeway in this city,
better than 6,000 miles of surface streets.
Every 10 minutes
there's an accident.
Every 10 minutes somebody like you
tries to kill himself or somebody else.
You blew 20 minutes of that time
all by yourself.
Mister, you killed
two human beings,
two people who were alive and breathing
seconds before you ran 'em down.
And you've got the monumental gall
to stand here and say
they wouldn't have lived much longer.
You may be out on bail in a couple of hours,
and if so, you take this to lunch with you:
Two people are lying
over there in the County Morgue,
and you put 'em there.
You were in a hurry the night you killed 'em.
You're in a hurry now
to see how fast you can forget.
I wanna wish you a lot of luck.
I hope it takes the rest of your life.
Now have a good lunch.
[Friday Narrating]
1: 15 p.m.
Bill and I began putting
all the paperwork together
on the Filmore hit-and-run.
Joe. Bill.
Thought you'd
like to know.
Yes, sir?
Clayton Filmore just walked out.
He made bail.
[Friday Narrating]
1:35 p.m.
Forensic chemist Ray Murray
in the Scientific Investigation Division
wanted to see us.
1964 blue Lincoln sedan.
Found a small piece of leather
adhered to the front bumper.
Matches the shoe
the male victim was wearing.
Mm-hmm.
Cloth imprint on the vehicle
matches his clothing.
Anything else, Ray?
Yeah. Blood on the windshield
matches the female victim.
Hair embedded in the glass
matches up too.
No doubt about it, Joe.
Yeah?
Filmore's car killed 'em both.
[Friday Narrating]
A complaint against Clayton Filmore
was issued by the district attorney's office.
Three months later,
the case came to trial.
3: 15 p.m., Friday, September 15.
Well—
[Sighs]
Well—
Suspended sentence,
three years’ probation, $250 fine.
That doesn't seem like much,
does it?
Oh, I don't know.
That's $125 for each life.
[Friday Narrating]
Thursday, February 18.
Five months had gone by
since the Clayton Filmore trial.
6:00 p.m.
We were just getting ready
to go home for the day.
Got one for you to go on.
Traffic wants us to cover.
They're shorthanded.
Two-car pileup at Sixth and Bixel.
A rough one.
Yes, sir.
Four victims involved.
Yeah?
Two D.O.A.,
two critical.
[Friday Narrating]
We left the office and headed across town
for Sixth and Bixel Streets.
[Siren Wailing]
Friday and Gannon, A.I.D.
Wheelock, 2-Mary 139.
Pretty bad, Sergeant.
Two of 'em didn't last five minutes
till the ambulance got here.
Couple of teenage girls.
Man and wife in the impact vehicle,
both critical.
- You check with witnesses?
- Yeah. Wrote down eight of 'em.
- What'd they do, run a signal?
- Yeah. Man and his wife ran it on red.
Must have been doing 50,
according to the witnesses.
You got the victims' names, Wheelock?
- Right, Sergeant.
- Thanks.
Bill. Man and wife
driving the impact vehicle?
Yeah.
Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Filmore.
- Sure is a mess, isn't it?
- Sure is.
[Friday Narrating]
6:48 p.m.
After checking
with various witnesses
who saw the accident,
Bill and I drove over
to Central Receiving Hospital
to make the usual follow-up report.
We talked to the doctor
in attendance.
He told us that Clayton Filmore
was under heavy sedation
and could not be talked to.
Mrs. Filmore
was in better condition.
What at first appeared
to be a critical condition was
further diagnosed as traumatic shock.
She had seven broken ribs
and was suffering from contusions.
The doctor said we could see her
for a few minutes.
Mrs. Filmore?
Clay—
Have you seen Clay?
No, ma'am.
He's under sedation.
Oh, dear God, dear God.
How did it happen?
How did it happen?
Clay promised me.
- What's that, Mrs. Filmore?
- He said if I'd drop the divorce proceedings,
he'd straighten out.
- He hasn't, has he?
- Doesn't look like it, ma'am.
- He killed those two young girls, didn't he?
- Yes, ma'am.
I wish I were dead.
Oh, how I wish I were dead.
Try to take it easy,
Mrs. Filmore.
Did they tell you
what happened to Clay?
He's going to lose both his legs.
- Both his legs.
- Yes, ma'am.
He was in a hurry
to get to this cocktail party.
He had a few drinks in his office
before he left.
I tried to tell him
not to have any more to drink,
but he wouldn't listen.
He never does.
- Those drinks cost him his legs.
- Yes, ma'am.
We were late leaving his office.
I tried to tell him.
He said not to worry.
We'd make it on time.
He was in a hurry, Sergeant.
He won't be anymore.
[Man Narrating]
The story you have just seen is true.
The names were changed
to protect the innocent.
On May 20, trial was held in Department 185,
Superior Court of the State of California,
in and for the County of Los Angeles.
In a moment, the results of that trial.
The suspect was found guilty
on two counts of felony manslaughter.
Felony manslaughter is punishable
by imprisonment in the county jail
for not more than one year
or in the state prison
for not more than five years.
Since this was his second offense,
Clayton R. Filmore
received the maximum sentence.
However, because of
his permanent disability
resulting from the accident,
the sentence was suspended.
He was also forbidden
to ever drive a vehicle again
as long as he lived,
despite the fact that artificial legs
would have made it possible for him to do so.