INDIANAPOLIS — Officers mourning a dead Indianapolis police officer are taking comfort in knowing he died during a selfless and heroic act, a police spokesman said Saturday.
Officer Rod Bradway, who died early Friday, kicked open the front door of an apartment in response to screams for help by a woman, whose ex-boyfriend had held her inside at gunpoint for three hours.
The woman and her young child were unharmed in the chaos that followed, but 24-year-old Steven Byrdo was hiding behind the apartment door and allegedly ambushed and fatally shot Bradway about 2 a.m. Friday, police said.
Bradway, a 41-year-old father of two teenagers, died later at an Indianapolis hospital.
Police said Bradway returned fire, striking Byrdo before he fell to the floor and a second officer then fatally shot Byrdo, exchanging about 15 shots with the suspect.
Police spokesman Lt. Chris Bailey said Saturday fellow officers are comforted somewhat knowing that Bradway died “doing what he wanted to do, and doing it in a heroic way for a perfect stranger.”
“Officer Bradway’s actions obviously saved this woman,” he said. “He kicked in that door without knowing what’s on the other side.”
The woman who screamed for help hasn’t been identified by police, but Officer Kendale Adams said, while she was interviewed by officers, she expressed her sadness at Bradway’s death and thanks for his actions.
“She was very grateful and full of emotions,” Adams said. “She was very thankful that he did what he did.”
Officers from across Indiana and the nation are expected to attend Thursday’s funeral for Bradway at downtown Indianapolis’ Bankers Life Fieldhouse, said Baily, who on Saturday joined members of the department and the Fraternal Order of Police in helping plan the funeral.
He said hundreds of police and other law enforcement vehicles would be part of the funeral procession to Crown Hill Cemetery, where Bradway will be buried in its Heroes of Public Safety section.
The funeral will be on the same scale as that the one in 2011 for David Moore, the last Indianapolis police officer killed in the line of duty.
Moore, the son of two police officers, died three days after being shot during a January 2011 traffic stop. His funeral was attended by more than 1,000 police officers from around the nation
Bailey said such funerals are heartbreaking for officers, but also a time for them to reflect on their dangerous occupation.
“It brings back memories of other people who were killed in the line of duty, and it puts this job in perspective,” he said. “The word ‘routine’ gets tossed around a lot, but there’s nothing routine about what we do because you never know what’s waiting at the car when you walk up there, what’s on the other side of the door, or what’s waiting on any of your runs.”
