Danno met Amber/Melissa, interesting trivia


by Mr. Mike » Sat Feb 25, 2017 2:03 pm

I found some interesting information which may have inspired the writers regarding the way Amber was shot in this show.

The following comes from a Wikipedia article about a legendary New York City cop, Albert Seedman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Seedman). Seedman may have actually been the inspiration for the TV cop Kojak.

"In mid-1967, Seedman, then chief detective for southern Brooklyn, caught the case that made his reputation as an investigator who could solve baffling cases. While driving on the Belt Parkway one summer morning near Plum Beach, a young woman named Nancy McEwen suddenly drifted off the road onto the median strip. A police lieutenant in the car behind her pulled over to see what the problem was. He found her moaning, with her head slumped forward, and called for an ambulance. She died a short time later at Coney Island Hospital, where doctors found a small hole on the side of her head that turned out to have been caused by a bullet.

"Since only one window in McEwen's car was open, and none of them had been shattered, Seedman knew the shot had to have been fired from Sheepshead Bay or the nearby area, and that due to the distance and the car's speed, it was probably not intentional. He ordered detectives and uniformed officers to search the dunes and marshes for a possible shell casing. After 2,400 people were interviewed and several other leads came to nothing, he pointed at a spot on the map and told his detectives to look for people who owned boats. That led to the shooter—a local gas station owner who had been on his boat that morning taking target practice at a floating beer can. One of his bullets had ricocheted off the water's surface and killed McEwen. A grand jury ruled it an accident, and no homicide charges were brought, although the shooter was fined $100 for violating firearms laws with the rifle."

The color photography for this show was absolutely stunning, by the way.