police officer ROBERT E. MACHATE
TASK FORCE
MARCH 3, 1989
On March 3rd, 1989, Plainclothes Police Officer Robert E. Machate was fatally shot in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn,
after he and his partner, approached a group of men who were engaged in a dispute.
A struggle ensued and one of the men gained control of the officer’s .38-caliber revolver and shot him once in the abdomen.
The suspect fled but was later apprehended and charged with murder.
Officer Machate was survived by his wife, who was six months pregnant at the time of the incident
