This is an enjoyable episode. We get to see Sergeant Friday getting a bit of heat in the department and listen to his lieutenant's speech about why the heat is necessary. The loo says, "You wouldn't want it any other way." I'm serious.
What's happened is that after eighteen hours of straight work, Joe finally goes home late at night and finds he's out of cigarettes. He hoofs it to a nearby laundromat and finds some young hood using a swipe wire to open the change machine.
"Alright, fella. Police officer. Hold it right there," says Joe. Without a word, the fella whirls, pulls out a gun and takes a shot at Friday. Friday "returns fire" and hits the guy, but a young lady runs in and pulls the perp outside.
Friday gets the car's plates and the perp is found dead. His girl friend claims the man never had a gun. Actually a pistol is found just behind the laundromat but it's been thrown into a barrel of oil and there are no prints. Worse, the bullet allegedly fired at Friday seems to have disappeared. No trace of it is found anywhere near where Friday was standing.
A shooting board is convened and Friday interrogated. He's arraigned, tried, found guilty of willful homicide and is executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin after being thoroughly sodomized by two bald brutes named Tyrone and T-Bone.
Just kidding. The resolution is surprising enough that I won't give it away. It's an interesting episode, though it's without some of Dragnet's usual deadpan humor.
What's happened is that after eighteen hours of straight work, Joe finally goes home late at night and finds he's out of cigarettes. He hoofs it to a nearby laundromat and finds some young hood using a swipe wire to open the change machine.
"Alright, fella. Police officer. Hold it right there," says Joe. Without a word, the fella whirls, pulls out a gun and takes a shot at Friday. Friday "returns fire" and hits the guy, but a young lady runs in and pulls the perp outside.
Friday gets the car's plates and the perp is found dead. His girl friend claims the man never had a gun. Actually a pistol is found just behind the laundromat but it's been thrown into a barrel of oil and there are no prints. Worse, the bullet allegedly fired at Friday seems to have disappeared. No trace of it is found anywhere near where Friday was standing.
A shooting board is convened and Friday interrogated. He's arraigned, tried, found guilty of willful homicide and is executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin after being thoroughly sodomized by two bald brutes named Tyrone and T-Bone.
Just kidding. The resolution is surprising enough that I won't give it away. It's an interesting episode, though it's without some of Dragnet's usual deadpan humor.