Police Will Gather To Remember Fort Lee Officer Killed On Duty

FORT LEE, N.J. — The police department invites the community to gather Sept. 4 to remember Officer William T. Birch, who was killed in the line of duty 50 years ago.

Brich was shot while responding to a robbery a the Riviera Motel on Route 4 Sept. 4, 1966. James Beldon, the man who shot and killed Birch was originally sentenced to death, but that sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972

Police Officer William T. Birch, a Fort Lee native, was gunned down while responding to a hold up alarm at the Riviera Motel on Route 4 on September 4, 1966. James Beldon, who shot and killed Officer Birch, was originally sentenced to death in 1967, but that sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972.

Beldon was paroled in 1982. In 2005, he was arrested for attempting to sell an illegal handgun in Massachusetts. Police said he bragged about killing a New Jersey police officer and had gotten away with it. He died in prison in 2005.

In 2007, a K-9 who joined the department was named "Birch," in his honor.

The ceremony will take place at the Fort Lee Police Memorial at 8 p.m. at Abbott Boulevard and Riverdale Avenue.

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com

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