Today is the anniversary of a particularly sad chapter in Greater Sudbury's history.
Today is the day, in 1993, that Sudbury police constable Joe MacDonald stopped an apparent impaired driver in New Sudbury. It would be the last car MacDonald ever stopped.
Inside that car was Clinton Suzack, a violent offender who recently had been released on parole, and the man who would become his partner-in-crime, Peter Pennett.
MacDonald was just 29. He'd been on the job for five years and had a wife and two young children waiting for him at home.
He pulled the car over on Gordon Street early that morning, for what should have been a routine traffic stop. It quickly became anything but routine.
Suzack and Pennett, who were later found to be in possession of illegal drugs, exited the vehicle and a violent physical battle ensued, resulting in the exchange of gunfire.
MacDonald was fatally shot, his empty service revolver later found laying beside him. He didn't go down without a fight though. Paramedics had to save Suzack's life.
Suzack and Pennett fled and after a foot chase, were captured by police. Charged with and convicted of first-degree murder in 1995, both men are serving life sentences without parole for 25 years.
Since MacDonald's death, police have upgraded the radios officers carry. Police also no longer issue the .38 revolvers MacDonald was carrying that night.
