Officer Earl Leonard Riddick
(Oct. 17, 1940 -- April 23, 1970)

The daily reality for most police officers is that there’s really no such thing as being "off duty."

Late on a Thursday morning, April 23, 1970, LAPD Officer Earl Riddick, 29, stopped at the Security Pacific Bank at 6922 S. Western Ave. to cash a check. It was pay day, and he planned to take his wife, Brenda, out for lunch before working a late shift. Riddick, who was wearing a business suit, had been with the department for nearly two years and was assigned to the Southwest Division.

Also visiting the bank that day, just before Riddick arrived, was an armed robber, carrying a .38-caliber revolver and a small, zippered, black bag. At about 11:35 a.m., the robber entered the bank. He gave the bag to a teller, pointed his gun at her, and handed her a note demanding money. As the teller placed $1,600 in cash in the bag, the robber told the customers near him to keep quiet, and he headed toward the door with the bag in one hand and his revolver in the other.

Stationed near the door of the bank was a security guard -- George MacMullen, 50, an employee of the Wells Fargo Protection Agency who started working at the bank only two months earlier.

Though MacMullen was unaware that a robbery had taken place when the robber approached the door, and he made no attempt to stop him, the robber shot him in the chest without warning, at point-blank range. MacMullen fell without having the chance to take his weapon out of its holster. He was taken to Morningside Hospital, about two miles away at 8711 South Harvard Blvd., where he was pronounced dead.

MacMullen left a widow, Muriel. The couple celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary the month before MacMullen was killed.

The robber continued into the bank parking lot just as Riddick arrived. Likely hearing the gunshot and seeing a man running out of the bank holding a bag and a revolver, Riddick pulled his gun and ordered the robber to stop, but the robber shot first, hitting the officer.

The robber jumped into a 1968 brown Pontiac Firebird -- which he had stolen at gunpoint along with $27 from a parking lot attendant at Temple Street and Grand Avenue about 15 minutes earlier -- and sped off. Riddick was able to return fire, shooting out the rear window of the Firebird and hitting the driver before he fell in the bank parking lot, where he was pronounced dead.

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Earl Leonard Riddick was born Oct. 17, 1940, in San Diego, the oldest of four boys born to Ulysses Grant Riddick and Gwendolyn Osborne Riddick. Ulysses Riddick was born in North Carolina, and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Earl Riddick followed his father into military service, serving in the U.S. Army for two years, from October 1963 to October 1965. During his military service, Riddick married Brenda E. Rose Facciane in Los Angeles on Aug. 15, 1964.

Earl and Brenda Riddick had three children -- David, born in 1965; Dana, born in 1968; and Deborah, born in 1969. In May 1968, Riddick joined the LAPD, and was assigned to the Southwest Division.

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After the shootings at the bank, the robber sped out of the parking lot and nearly collided with two LAPD motorcycle officers. Because of the driver's erratic driving, and noticing that the rear window of the vehicle had been shot out, the motorcycle officers chased the Firebird. During the chase, the officers heard the police radio reports about the bank robbery.

After leaving the bank parking lot, the Firebird headed south on Western Avenue for about two blocks, then turned east on Florence Avenue. The motorcycle officers, with other police vehicles and a helicopter joining the pursuit, chased the Firebird east on Florence Avenue for about a mile, then south on Vermont Avenue. At Vermont and 74th Street, the suspect's vehicle skidded and bounced off a curb.

The driver jumped out of the Firebird and ran, carrying the black bag containing the money from the bank. When officers arrived, a young boy told them that he saw the driver, with blood on his back -- likely the result of Riddick’s gunfire or the broken glass from the car's rear window -- run down an alley behind 73rd Street.

The bank robber attempted to hide beneath a boat trailer at the rear of 912 West 74th St., but a woman who lived nearby pointed out his location to police. As officers approached the suspect’s hiding place, he fired at them, and they returned fire. More than 20 shots were exchanged, the suspect was killed, and the black bag containing the bank money was recovered near him.

An investigation revealed that the 29-year-old bank robber had been paroled from San Quentin State Prison six months earlier, on Oct. 23, 1969, after serving five years for the armed robbery of a clothing store.

The bank robber was a career criminal with a lengthy record, beginning at the age of 16, including nearly 20 arrests for offenses including rape, grand theft, burglary, armed robbery and narcotics violations. After his death, based on statements from his girlfriend and forensic analysis of his .38-caliber revolver, police linked him to the killings of at least six other people following his parole -- the 63-year-old owner of a liquor store on E. Firestone Boulevard in South Gate on Feb. 13, 1970, a 37-year-old theater cashier on Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles on March 12, 1970, and four cab drivers, plus the two victims at the bank -- more than a murder every month after he was released on parole from San Quentin, plus several other shooting injuries during the robberies and other crimes.

"Reports from his parole officer said he was making good progress," said LAPD Chief Ed Davis. "I suppose a murder a month is good progress, if you like murders."

In September 1970, Officer Riddick was posthumously awarded the LAPD’s Medal of Valor, the department's highest honor. A total of nine LAPD officers were honored, including two posthumously. In addition to Riddick, the other fallen officer to be honored was Officer Robert J. Cote, Sr., who was shot and killed on July 31, 1969, while responding to a report of armed robbers at a department store at Vermont Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard. Riddick's widow and their son, David, accepted the award.

Funeral services for Riddick were held at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, 6028 Victoria St. He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, with military and police honors.

Riddick’s widow, Brenda, died in 2019 at the age of 75, and is buried with her husband at Holy Cross.

Riddick’s son, David, who was 4 years old when his father was killed, followed in his father’s footsteps, and joined the LAPD on May 15, 1995. He requested his father’s badge number (14169), served in the department’s Harbor Division, and retired on July 1, 2021, after more than 25 years of service.

On April 23, 2010, Officer David Riddick posted the following remembrance of his father on the Officer Down Memorial Page, which remembers and honors fallen police officers from across the country:

"I am writing this on the 40th anniversary of my father's death. I just wanted to give a word of thanks and gratitude to all who have left kind words on this site. I am celebrating 15 years of service to the LAPD and have tried to honor my dad's name during that time. His loss is still very difficult to deal with at times. My dad was an 'Officer's Officer' based on all of the things his peers have expressed to me. Being an LAPD officer has given me an insight to what kind of man he was. I want to thank the ODMP staff for having a place on the Web where these true heroes can be remembered."

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