Frank Frederickson was a Detroit Police Department officer gunned down by Clarence Boddicker and his gang. He escaped the carnage and identified Boddicker.
Biography[]
One day, Frederickson cruised through the streets of Old Detroit with his partner Connors, whilst two more cops, Alcott and Duffy, were in a leading car. They were called to a disturbance, which turned out to be a naked woman running distressed through the streets. The officers shared a bit of banter and a couple of jokes, but, as they turned a few corners, the lead car suddenly exploded into a coffin of fire. Shocked, Frederickson and Connors called for backup and a MediVac, but both services were unavailable because of a lack of manpower and resources. The two officers moved cautiously to their injured comrades, Connors covering them with a combat shotgun. Frederickson found Duffy dead, and Alcott convulsing and badly wounded by a shot to the chest.[1]
Suddenly, a five-shotgun barrage took out Connors and Frederickson started shooting and retreating. He copped a shot in the leg, but staggered back to the cruiser and fell inside. He managed to start the engine, but, before he could do anything else, another volley of shotgun fire destroyed the windshield and badly wounded him in the face. Clarence closed in on the shocked, disoriented form of Frederickson, looked at his mangled face and told him: "Go back and give your cop friends a message: Stay out of Old Detroit."[1]
With that, Clarence nudged the transmission into drive with the muzzle of his shotgun and the cruiser lumbered drunkenly away, with Frederickson struggling to steer. As the gang prepared to leave, Frederickson saw that Emil spray-painted the cop's bodies with the numbers, 29, 30 and 31, a grimly triumphant memorial of Clarence and his gang's kills.[1]
Meanwhile, Frederickson, losing consciousness, desperately tried to summon assistance again, "Officer needs assistance, sector GK2. Officer needs assistance in Old Detroit. Aw, Jesus... I'm all fucked up..."[1]
Reed removing the nameplate from Frederickson's locker
Fighting for his life in Henry Ford Memorial Hospital and despite good wishes from Casey Wong of Mediabreak, Frank lost his battle with his injuries later on in the day, much to the chagrin of his comrades. Sergeant Reed broke the bad news only minutes after one of his officers had heard on his headset radio that Frank was still in critical condition. The rest of Frank's fellow squad members looked on in sadness as Reed took down Frank's locker name tag and unlocked it to allow Cecil to remove its contents. He also requested all members of the Detroit Police attend the funeral, unless they were on duty that day and suggested they make donations to Frank's family.[2]
Behind the scenes[]
In the original script for RoboCop, the altercation between Frederickson and Clarence was described in detail, but was not filmed, presumably due to budget constraints. It was, however, included in the novelization by Ed Naha and the Marvel adaptation.
In the video game RoboCop: Rogue City, a photo of Fredrickson appears in Metro North's computer database.
Appearances[]
- RoboCop (1987) (mentioned only)
- RoboCop (novelization)
- RoboCop: Rogue City (photo only)