The Big Flight

Originally Aired: November 17, 1953

Dragnet #222, "The Big Flight," begins when Sergeants Joe Friday and Frank Smith respond to a brutal robbery at a corner market on Lockwood and Barton Avenues. The victim, Cliff Hall, and his partner Andy were working when three armed men entered the store demanding money. While Hall complied with the gunman's orders to put approximately $8,000 in a paper bag, Andy emerged from the back room and, not immediately seeing the weapons, confronted the thieves. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, Andy fought back against two of the robbers until the third man struck him alongside the head with his automatic, fracturing his jaw and causing a concussion.

Friday and Smith methodically gather descriptions of the suspects and their getaway car, aided by a witness who observed three men matching the robbers' descriptions park nearby and later flee toward Hollywood Boulevard. The crime lab lifts partial fingerprints from the counter, though they're insufficient for identification without suspects in custody. With supplementary broadcasts issued and both victims providing detailed descriptions, Friday and Smith take Hall and the witness to headquarters to search through mug books, hoping to identify the violent trio.