Charles Troyer, Arundel police officer

Charles B. “Butch” Troyer, a retired Anne Arundel County police officer who shot a potential hijacker who intended to fly a plane into the White House in 1974, died Thursday at age 72. He had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1998.

Charles Bruce Troyer was born in Pigtown. His family moved to Ferndale when he was 15, and he graduated from Andover High School in 1963.

He served in the Navy, then returned home and became an Anne Arundel County police officer in 1967.

When he was 30, Mr. Troyer took a second job as a security officer at BaltimoreWashington International Airport. He was not scheduled to work Feb. 22, 1974, but was covering a shift for a friend. He was getting a cup of coffee when he heard a pop that sounded like gunfire and ran to investigate.

He found the body of his friend George Ramsburg, a Federal Aviation Administration officer. Mr. Ramsburg had been fatally shot in the head. Mr. Troyer grabbed the slain officer’s .357 revolver.

“He had in mind securing the weapon, not using it,” said Sgt. Bob Tucker, a county officer who also worked the airport security detail, though not that night. “But having that weapon made the difference.”

Mr. Troyer and other officers chased Samuel J. Byck to a DC-9 he had taken over. He had shot the pilots and taken hostages, and officials later learned his plan was to hijack the plane and crash it into the White House in an attempt to kill President Richard Nixon.

Mr. Troyer and others fired shots as the plane’s door was shut and also fired at the DC-9’s tires, to no avail.

Mr. Troyer spotted Mr. Byck through a window after a passenger pointed to where the hijacker was hiding behind a partition. Mr. Troyer fired through the window of the plane’s door, striking Mr. Byck twice. Mr. Byck then shot himself in the head with a Ruger pistol, which was later ruled the fatal shot.

The story was the subject of documentary film as well as a feature film, “The Assassination of Richard Nixon,” starring Sean Penn as the would-be assassin.

“When it was done, Troyer finally got a cup of coffee,” wrote The Baltimore Sun in 2005. “His bosses gave him a week off. And after a few congratulatory dinners and a week in Ocean City, Troyer went back to in-thetrenches police work.”

“He was an everyday street cop,” said retired Sgt. Ken Kulesz, who worked Eastern District with Mr. Troyer. “He was a friend for life. He’d give you the shirt off his back and was always willing to help out.”

His wife, Patricia, said her husband loved the Police Department he served for nearly 40 years. “It broke his heart to have to retire,” she said.

Mr. Troyer enjoyed trips to Spain to visit friends who had retired there, and was known for his pasta salad, his wife said.

A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church, 5976 Old Washington Road, Elkridge, followed by burial at Meadowridge Memorial Park.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Tara E. Wyatt; a sister, Linda Parkwer; and four grandchildren.