WEBVTT - Bonus Episode 4: The Drunk Cop Who Brought Down a President

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<v Speaker 1>We have a mystery story out of Washington. Five people

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<v Speaker 1>have been arrested and charged with breaking into the headquarters

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<v Speaker 1>or the Democratic National Committee in the middle of the

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<v Speaker 1>night Watergate. Before Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein,

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<v Speaker 1>before Deep Throat, before the cover up, there was the

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<v Speaker 1>Watergate break in itself and the arrest of the five

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<v Speaker 1>men who did it. At the time, almost nobody understood

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<v Speaker 1>the significance of those arrests, or how they would lead

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<v Speaker 1>to the fall of President Richard M. Nixon, or how

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<v Speaker 1>they very nearly didn't happen at all. Welcome to a

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<v Speaker 1>special bonus episode of Flashback. I'm Sean Braswell. Today we

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<v Speaker 1>consider another extremely fateful moment from history, the summer night

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen seventy two when five burglars were arrested at

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<v Speaker 1>the exclusive Watergate condo and off As Complex in Washington,

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<v Speaker 1>d C. Sometimes the fall of a powerful leader takes

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<v Speaker 1>years of resistance and political organizing. Sometimes it takes a

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<v Speaker 1>bloody coup, and sometimes it's as simple as a single

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<v Speaker 1>man doing nothing one night in a local bar. They

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<v Speaker 1>were called the bum Squad. Late on a Friday night

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<v Speaker 1>in June two Sergeant Paul Leaper of the Washington d C.

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<v Speaker 1>Police Department and two fellow officers were dressed up as

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<v Speaker 1>hippies and cruising the streets of Georgetown in an unmarked

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<v Speaker 1>light blue Ford Sedan. They weren't looking for a good time.

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<v Speaker 1>They were looking for criminals. It was after midnight and Leaper,

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<v Speaker 1>a tenure veteran of the force, was about to head

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<v Speaker 1>home after putting in two hours of overtime. Then an

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<v Speaker 1>alert came in over the radio. Nicole comes out of

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<v Speaker 1>one two am. The guard thinks he has a burgery

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<v Speaker 1>at the water Day some of that effect. This is

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<v Speaker 1>Sergeant Leeper in telling the story to a group of

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<v Speaker 1>students at North Marion High School in West Virginia. We

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<v Speaker 1>respond to the front of the Watergate complex. We get

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<v Speaker 1>out of the car, we parked legally, we don't have

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<v Speaker 1>any red light and sawn on me and they like

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<v Speaker 1>that nor It's a non marked cruiser and it's a

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<v Speaker 1>fulky looking cruiser. Don't look like a police cruiser should

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<v Speaker 1>Leeper and his colleagues didn't look like cops either. The

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<v Speaker 1>Watergate burglars had stationed to look out across the street

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<v Speaker 1>at the Howard Johnson motor lodge. He reportedly saw the

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<v Speaker 1>bum Squad roll up, but didn't give them a second glance.

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<v Speaker 1>He was watching a horror movie on TV at the time,

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<v Speaker 1>Attack of the Puppet People, and so the bum Squad

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<v Speaker 1>entered the building and proceeded to make one of the

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<v Speaker 1>biggest arrests in American history, catching five men breaking into

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<v Speaker 1>the Democratic National Committee's offices on the sixth floor. The

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<v Speaker 1>burgle is forced to stairwell door, then taped its latch

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<v Speaker 1>open at as the police found nothing. Then they spied

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<v Speaker 1>five men crouching behind some disks. But here's the thing.

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<v Speaker 1>The Bump Squad was not the first to get the

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<v Speaker 1>call to investigate that night. The vehicle responsible for that area,

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<v Speaker 1>Squad Car eight, had been contacted by the dispatcher first,

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<v Speaker 1>but was unable to respond. Why Sergeant Lieper again, where

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<v Speaker 1>all the scout car the patrol car that run that area.

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<v Speaker 1>He kind of begs off, He says, I'm low on gas.

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<v Speaker 1>I can't They calls to the dispatcher Squad Car eighties

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<v Speaker 1>lack of gas became part of the Watergate saga. Who

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<v Speaker 1>knows how things might have played out had a uniform

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<v Speaker 1>police officer in a patrol car turned up at the

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<v Speaker 1>watergate that night instead of the bum squad. Maybe the

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<v Speaker 1>lookout could have worn the burglars in time. It's an

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<v Speaker 1>amazing what if from history, But it's even more interesting

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<v Speaker 1>than that. For decades, no one really examined squad car

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<v Speaker 1>eighties low on gas claim. Then a few years ago

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<v Speaker 1>a historian biographer named Craig Shirley looked more closely at

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<v Speaker 1>what happened that night. Shirley spoke with the owner of

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<v Speaker 1>a nearby bar that was a favorite hangout of Washington's

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<v Speaker 1>police officers at the time. Officers would often stop there

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<v Speaker 1>for free meals and free drinks, even while on duty.

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<v Speaker 1>The owner told Shirley that squad Car eighty was not

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<v Speaker 1>low on gas. Its officer had started drinking bourbon and

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<v Speaker 1>coke around midnight. By the time the call to investigate

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<v Speaker 1>came into the walkie talkie. Lying on the bar, he

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<v Speaker 1>could barely walk. The bar owner, no stranger to inebriated officers,

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<v Speaker 1>told him he should tell the dispatcher that he was

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<v Speaker 1>out of gas and couldn't respond, and so that's what

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<v Speaker 1>he did. Shirley subsequently tried to confirm the identity of

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<v Speaker 1>the officer and squad car a d that fateful evening,

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<v Speaker 1>but he got nowhere. He told me that he ran

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<v Speaker 1>into the Blue Wall of silence, not to mention a messy,

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<v Speaker 1>haphazard archive with no pertinent records at the Metropolitan Police

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<v Speaker 1>Department of the District of Columbia. Watergate ended the presidency

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<v Speaker 1>of Richard Nixon, and it changed American political life and

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<v Speaker 1>profound ways. Among other things, the Supreme Court rule that

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<v Speaker 1>the president is not above the law and forty eight

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<v Speaker 1>people who are convicted, including two of Nixon's attorneys general

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<v Speaker 1>and his chief of staff. And to think it might

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<v Speaker 1>have all turned on some bourbon and coke. Now that's

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<v Speaker 1>a strong drink. Thanks for listening, and please stay tuned

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<v Speaker 1>to this feed for more bonus episodes on fateful moments

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<v Speaker 1>from history and the weeks ahead. Flashback is written and

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<v Speaker 1>hosted by me Sean Braswell, senior writer and executive producer

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<v Speaker 1>at Ozzie. It was edited by Maybe mcgoren and produced

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<v Speaker 1>by Tracy Moran. Chris Hoff engineered our show. Make sure

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<v Speaker 1>to subscribe to Flat sh Back on the I Heart

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<v Speaker 1>Radio app or listen wherever you get your podcasts. M

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