In the late 1960s, a group of young men began terrorizing the quiet and peaceful community of Rock Creek, Ohio. According to former Police Chief Andrew Ceder of neighboring town Jefferson Village:
“They were involved in fights. They were involved in threats. They had the entire village under their thumb. When they spoke, the village pretty much listened.”
A police cruiser behind a speeding vehicle
Hamrick was in a high speed chase
The town counted on the Sheriff’s Department for protection, but they seemed unable to stop the crime wave. So the citizens decided to start their own police department. In July 1969, Robert Hamrick was the third man in less than six months to take charge of the new police force. The other two had both left after receiving threats from members of the Rock Creek Gang. But his wife, Myrtle Hamrick, was confident her husband could clean up the town:
“He wanted it to be a nice friendly town and he wanted, you know, to get this gang off the streets so that people wouldn’t have to be afraid of them.”
A police officer and ambulance arriving at the scene of a crashed police cruiser
A fellow officer found Hamrick barely alive
Almost immediately Hamrick and his family were harassed. Myrtle Hamrick knew there was not much her husband could do:
“They just did anything that they could to aggravate him when they knew he was home. He would get fed up and take off after them.”
Five months after he was sworn in, Chief Hamrick investigated an abandoned building on the edge of town. Inside, he found an expensive sports car that had been stolen. Police officer Gary Martin assisted in the investigation:
“We came across it, fingerprinted it and we bugged the building because we didn’t know who was there. We put a radio in our car and just drove around and listened until the guys came back. Bob was hiding in the office and when they showed up, we jumped out and busted them.”
The suspects were believed to be members of the Rock Creek Gang. They were arrested and released on bail. Soon after, the threatening calls began. One day, Myrtle Hamrick answered the phone:
“There was a man on the other end and he said, ‘Tell your husband to leave things alone and get him out of town or he’s going to be hurt. And he’s going to be hurt bad.’”
One month later, on March 10, 1970, during a routine patrol, Chief Hamrick called in to report that he was in pursuit of a car heading west out of town. An hour and a half passed with no further radio contact. Finally, the dispatcher requested that deputies try to find the missing chief. Four hours later, Hamrick’s patrol car was located on an isolated road. It had hit a tree. Hamrick was semi-conscious and barely alive. Former Ashtabula County Deputy Chief Dennis Chapman was first on the scene:
“He had head and facial injuries. I was surprised to find him moving when I got there. And then my next thing was to keep him from moving so that he wouldn’t do further injury to himself.”