Infamous ’60s radical Kathy Boudin, convicted in the 1981 Brinks heist that left two cops and a security guard dead in Rockland County, walked out of a Westchester prison a free woman yesterday – infuriating the victims’ family, friends and colleagues.
Boudin – who served 22 years for her role in the murders of Nyack Sgt. Edward O’Grady and Officer Waverly Brown, along with Brinks guard Peter Paige – was released from the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility at 8:45 a.m.
Wearing a white shirt and black pants, and clutching dried roses given to her by fellow inmates after the death of her mom in 1993, Boudin, 60, turned around and waved goodbye to prison pals gathered at a window before hopping into an SUV and being driven away.
In a shocking decision, the former Weather Underground radical and fugitive – who was sentenced to 20 years to life after pleading guilty to felony murder and robbery – won parole last month, just three months after a different parole panel denied her bid.
O’Grady’s widow, Diane, said that she’s “devastated” by Boudin’s release – and that she was furious when she heard about Boudin’s long goodbye to fellow inmates.
“I’m upset and I’m angry. There’s definitely been an injustice here,” she told The Post yesterday in a telephone interview from her Florida home.
“I can’t believe she got out, turned to the camera and waved to her friends in jail. The woman has no class.”
She added that her “nightmares” have returned since Boudin was granted parole.
“I wake up sometimes at 2:30 a.m. thinking I’m talking to Ed and then I have to say, ‘No you’re not, Diane,’ ” she said.
“In the dreams, I’m seeing him gunned down. I’m thinking about his last words. This has really brought all the emotions back that I thought I had [already] dealt with.”
A few cops, members of the Rockland County Police Benevolent Association, gathered outside the prison to voice their outrage over Boudin’s release.
“There’s no way she should have been paroled,” fumed Rockland PBA President Brent Newbury. “It’s outrageous that she’s been freed. It makes me sick.”
Boudin has taken a job working on programs for women with AIDS at St. Luke’s Hospital in Manhattan.
TIMES CHANGE
Kathy Boudin faces a new world today than when she went to jail 22 years ago.
1981 2003
Best film “Chariots of Fire” “Chicago”
Top TV show “Dallas” “CSI”
President Ronald Reagan George W. Bush
Mayor Ed Koch Mike Bloomberg
Yankees manager Bob Lemon Joe Torre
Subway fare 60 cents $2