- A series of armed robberies made by four masked men eventually lead to a bar killing and public "second guessing" of Adam's handling of the situation. At the same time a resident doctor has his brother pressure him to help treat one of the hold-up men who has been shot. Adam and the NYPD doggedly pursue the case.—dubchi
- The scene is a bar with a habit of over-serving customers; a drunk customer is playing with his dog. Det Flint walks in to remonstrate with the saloon owner (Jean Stapleton). While they are arguing in a booth 4 masked men come in to hold up the bar. Flint contemplates reaching for his gun but notes that one of the gunmen has his own weapon to the bartender's head, and wisely refrains. However, one of the gunmen, after arguing with the drunk, shoots him dead. Adam pursues them out the door and wounds one but they escape in a car. Adam is blamed by bystanders and the bar owner for not doing anything and allowing the drunk to be killed. Newspapers go wild with the story of a "bad" cop who did nothing. Downtown wants Adam suspended by Lt Parker has a showdown with a superior threatening to resign if his precinct is interfered with.
Meanwhile the gang is hiding out with their badly wounded member. The leader Paul (Johnny Seven) calls on his brother Charlie (Dick York), a resident physician at a nearby hospital, for help. Despite his reservations and belief that the man should be in a hospital, Charlie patches him up with the help of his fiancee, a nurse who involves herself despite Charlie telling her not to.
Adam and Libby go to see the widow of the dead drunk to try to explain his side of the story, but she herself is drunk and unreceptive, screaming at the couple about her lost pension. They leave. Adam is second-guessing his actions despite Libby's and Lt Parker's support. A break in the case comes when the bartender who'd been hostage comes in to the 65th and thanks Adam for saving his life, bringing him the remnants of the special drink that the drunk had spilled on one of the hoods before being shot. The lab thinks they can match the distinctive drink to the thug's suit if they can find it. A dry cleaner responds to an alert by telling Flint and Arcero he has the suit in question, but the cops arrive too late as one of the hoods (a pre Godfather James Caan) snatches his suit jacket back and runs off only to be run over by a truck.
However, Dr Charlie is begged by the sick thug to put him out of his pain, makes a call and takes him to the hospital, while meanwhile his nurse fiancee tracks down Adam at Libby's apt and tells him the whole story. Adam and Arcero show up at the hospital just after Paul and his surviving sidekick have had Charlie at gunpoint remove the injured thug and hijack an ambulance. Adam, Arcero and a couple of uniforms give pursuit; the ambulance rolls over and the remaining hoods are killed including his brother; Charlie is injured and condoled by his fiancee even though his medical career is likely over for assisting the hoodlums. In the conclusion, Libby presents Adam with a framed newspaper headline clearing Adam and praising his bravery in pursuing the ambulance.
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