Log 152: A Dead Cop Can't Help Anyone (Episode 22, Season 1)

The episode that introduces us to Ed Wells, the resident jerk of Central Division. Ed Wells is also one of the few characters that stay on the show from the first season all the way to the last episode.

Episode 22

Reed learns that you can never over do it when it comes to being safe out on the streets.

Ed Wells is holding court in the locker room, regaling the neophyte officers with tales of his bravery. 

Reed is particularly enthralled with Ed's anecdotes and comments it took "guts" for Ed to capture the 211 suspect single-handedly.

"That's what the job's all about, isn't it?" replies Wells.

Malloy and Brinkman have been watching the entire interaction between Wells and the less experienced officers. They know the job is not all about guts and are concerned that Wells is leading the younger officers down a dangerous path.

After watching Reed hang on Wells' every word, Brinkman comments to Pete, "Looks like ol' Ed has another convert to his 'Superman' theory of police work."
Pete dejectedly answers, "Yeah."

Later, while they are in the car, Reed asks Malloy if he has ever been partnered with Ed Wells.

"Once, that was enough."

Malloy thinks Wells has guts, but not much else (like brains). 

They receive a radio call of a 415, family dispute, at 315 W. Cameron with a probable gun involved. The arrive at the scene and a frantic boy meets in the lobby. He's afraid that his mom's drunken boyfriend is going to hurt her. 

His mother should dump that loser and find a nice architect to date.

The boyfriend is also brandishing a pistol that the boy's father brought back from Korea. While Malloy is obtaining information on this potentially dangerous situation, Wells and his mute partner Sanchez have arrived as backup. Wells is impatient. He doesn't want to stand around talking all day! 

Since this is his call, Malloy tries to take charge of the situation and directs Wells and Sanchez to check out the windows in the rear of the apartment. Malloy at least wants to know where the armed man is before the enter the apartment.

"Let's just handle the call. Huh, Malloy?"

And with that Ed Wells goes charging in without any plan or knowledge of what awaits him on the other side of the door.

Outta my way!

Ready or not, here I come!

As Wells busts through the door, a shot is fired!

A very annoyed Pete checks out the scene inside the apartment.

As the other officers walk through the door, Wells lets them know that he has it all under control. The drunken boyfriend fired at him, but missed by a mile.

"You can put your gun away now, Malloy. Everything's under control."

Pete is now super annoyed. This was his call and it should have been his bust. Worse yet, that little jerk is trying to give Pete pointers on police work! He doesn't even have a five-year service mark on his sleeve.

"You gotta get the job done, Pete baby. And you can't take all day on one call, we got lots to do."

Ed and his silent partner take the suspect outside and leave behind a furious Pete and an embarrassed Jim.

"You got something on your mind, let's have it."

After finishing up the reports, Malloy and Reed leave the building to find an unhappy Mac waiting for them. He expects officers working for him to make their own busts and wants to know why the backup officers made the arrest on this call. Pete, ever the professional, does not lay blame on Ed Wells.

"It just worked out that way," explains Malloy.

Back in their patrol car, Reed asks Malloy what he thinks of Ed Wells now.  Pete's opinion has not changed. Even if, it seems, that the Sergeant doesn't agree with him.

"The Sergeant doesn't have all the facts."

The communications operator's voice breaks in with a call of a 288, possible kidnapping in progress. The victim is a 6 year-old male caucasian. They quickly spot the car described in the dispatch and pull it over. As they are exiting the vehicle, Malloy gives Reed some advice on dealing with a child- nabbing suspect.

"Watch yourself, sometimes these guys blow their minds."

A small boy jumps out of the car and the driver chases after him. Reed goes after the boy, while Malloy grabs the man. After Malloy frisks and cuffs the confused suspect, he asks him what is going on. George Thurston explains that he did not want to take the boy, but his wife insisted. Now Pete is confused.

"Wait a minute..."

"Your wife?"

Don't worry, this man and his wife are not a running a child kidnapping ring. He is the boy's father and he is taking the boy to the barbershop. But, the kid hates to have his hair cut so he has been putting up a fight. 

Reed has found Bobby hiding under a park bench. 

Before Malloy will un-cuff Mr. Thurston, he asks Bobby to identify his father.
 (It may say "George Thurston" under "Father" on this kid's birth certificate, but I see some similarities between that hand on Bobby's shoulder and Bobby's face.)

["Those freckles, that hair, that prowler report when I was a rookie. I went back to check on her when my shift was over. Her last name...it...it was Thurston. Uh oh," thinks Malloy]

Mr. Thurston is very understanding about the whole incident and even lets Reed and Malloy know that he appreciates the police. He then asks them if they would be willing to take Bobby to the barbershop! 

"Sorry, we have to get back to work," answers Reed.

When they are back to work in the radio car, both officers are thankful that Ed Wells did not show up during the kidnapping call. I can imagine that that would have been a disaster. The father would be in a holding cell right now and Bobby would be with social services. 

Reed and Malloy run into Ed Wells the next day in the locker room. Wells wants to know if Pete has cooled down yet. He almost apologizes for taking the bust away from 1-Adam-12 yesterday. But, instead of admitting that he may be in the wrong, he blames Pete for moving too slowly at the scene. 

"When something's going down, you gotta move. Can't take all day. That's what we're here for, you gotta get those bad guys and get 'em in jail."

["Yeah, Eddie baby, you tell that ol' stick in the mud," thinks Reed.]

Pete begins to boil.

"Doesn't matter how it's done.  Just do it quick, is that right?" Malloy queries Wells.

["Uh oh, this isn't going to end well."]

Ed doesn't pick up on Pete's sarcasm. He tries a different approach, he asks Ed for a favor.  

"Don't roll on any of my calls unless you're assigned. And if you are, stay outta my way 'cause I don't need you."

Ed tells Pete to "wait a minute", causing Pete's anger to bubble over. Pete then releases a torrent of irate words and finger-pointing at the blue-eyed, square-headed officer.

"No, you wait a minute! You charge around like some comic-strip character and the sorry part of it is you think you're doing good police work. Well, you're not. There's more to this job than kicking a door down and taking a gun away from some nut. Now if you haven't learned that yet, you probably never will. So I don't need you and these kids don't you. If you don't get yourself killed, it'll be your partner or some other policeman."

Malloy gives Wells one last piece of advice.

"Stay away from me."

["This is gonna be a fun shift."]

It is strangely silent when we see the boys in 1-Adam-12. Reed breaks the tension and broaches the subject of what happened in the locker room.

"Kinda blew your cool back there," he observes.

"I've just about had it with that jerk."

Reed, however, does not share Malloy's opinion of Ed Wells. He thinks that Wells may just size up a situation quicker than most. It seems to be working for Wells, he always comes out "smelling like a rose".

"To take an unnecessary chance and come out smelling like a rose is not my idea of 'professional tactics'."

 Malloy thinks that Wells relies too much on luck and not enough on planning and safety. Reed thinks that maybe Malloy overdoes it a little in the planning and safety departments.

They then hear a radio dispatch for 1-Adam-47, Wells' and Sanchez's car, to respond to a 415, man with a gun, code 3. Malloy decides to backup A-47. Looks like we'll get to see how Wells handles himself in another dangerous situation.

As 1-Adam-12 arrives on the scene, they see Wells running out of his car towards the suspect's house.

"There goes Wells, making like Teddy Roosevelt again."

Wells charges into the front yard, but he's stopped before he reaches the house.

By a shotgun blast!

Wells is hit!

Reed runs out of the car to get Wells, but Malloy quickly orders him back in the car. They are going to rescue Wells, but they are going to be safe while doing it.

First, they hang their jackets in the car windows so they gunman does not have a clear view of them.

Then, Malloy tells Reed to lay down in the back. He radios for backup, and a Sergeant with a gas kit.

Pete lays low while driving the car to where Ed is lying, hurt and bleeding. He positions the car so it is between the wounded officer and the gunman.

The suspect manages to shoot out both of the patrol car's windows. But, because of Pete's planning and use of proper technique no other officers are hurt.

Pete and Jim lift Ed into the car and drive out of harm's way.

Backup and an ambulance arrive soon after. Malloy goes about directing the backup officers and preparing to use the tear gas that Mac has brought with him. It turns out that the gas is not needed, Mac is able to talk the suspect into surrendering without any further violence.

Later, at the station as they are finishing their reports, Mac comes over to tell them that Wells will be out of commission for a month or more and has been asking to see them. He also praises them for using their "heads out there". 

"I'll see this on gets in your package."

["I guess overdoing it can pay off."]

Reed and Malloy make their second visit to Central Receiving hospital in two episodes. Sally, who first saw in the previous episode, is at the desk to greet them. (It looks like the Central Receiving set has been spruced up from the last time we saw it.)

They meet Ed's wife at the door of the P & F, police and fire, ward. She thanks both of them for saving Ed and also tells them that this experience has scared Ed.

Hey, its Barbara Baldavin who also played the mother in episode 3.

Ed is as jovial as he can be considering the pain he is experiencing and jokes that his wife won't be able to get rid of him as long as he has Malloy looking out for him. 

He then launches into a story about his capture of a bank robber. Malloy and Reed leave the room as Ed's roommates begin hiding under pillows or reading magazines. Anything to escape another tale from super-cop Ed Wells.

"We better get back on the air. Tell your roommates about it."

["Nurse! We need sleeping pills right now!"]

In the hall Reed comments that Wells must be out of his mind. Malloy corrects him, it's not sanity that Wells lacks but maturity. Wells just hasn't grown up yet.

"And it's even money in my book whether he'll live long enough to get there."

The End

This episode reminds me of a dramatized Highlights magazine feature. Ed Wells is Officer Goofus to Peter J. Malloy's Officer Gallant. But, that doesn't mean that I don't like this episode. I enjoy this one quite a bit. I love Gary Crosby's portrayal of the swaggering overly confident Officer Wells. I love that Reed is temporarily enamored with Wells' hard-charging style of police work. And, I especially love Pete's reaction when Wells' busts the armed boyfriend. Pete doesn't care so much about the bust or having another notch on his Sam Browne belt, he cares about the safety of the other officers and the rookie "kids" like Reed. 

So, ironically, this episode has not earned a "Wells" rating. In my book it deserves a rating of:

Do you agree? See you next time! KMA-367

R.I.P. Pete Malloy's leather jacket