Robert Nesbitt
Served 1956-1989
Robert “Bob” Nesbitt served with distinction for five years in the Royal Canadian Air Force and 34 years in the Hamilton Police. His father was also an important part of the Hamilton Police History. Sam “Spike” Nesbitt was a Sergeant with Hamilton Police. In 1929, Spike chased the suspect into a basement after a bank robbery. Spike was struck in the head and had to retreat. Then A/Sgt. Bill Clark went down there and was shot to death. The culprit also died. On January 22, 1971 Bob Nesbitt and Roy Johnston were working together in a cruiser as they drove through the intersection of King Street East and Ashley. There on the north sidewalk they saw a man on the sidewalk. They went to assist the injured man, but it was obvious that he was quite dead. A witness was asked who was responsible, to which he pointed west along King Street.
Spike is shown here in the 40’s.
They notified Dispatch about what had happened, and they drove westbound on King Street near Emerald Avenue where they saw a man with a knife, heading north on Emerald. Bob got out of the cruiser and began chasing the suspect on foot. Roy drove the car ahead of the suspect to cut him off, further north.
Suddenly the culprit Pietro DILEO, turned and ran directly at Bob brandishing his knife. This was the same knife he had just used to kill the man back on King Street. Bob backed up as far as he could on the hard-packed snow under foot. At the same time, he was yelling for him stop.
When the culprit was too close, Bob finally fired his issue revolver at the man, and he fell dead at Bob’s feet with the knife still in his hand. This was the only action Bob could take to save his own life. The shooting happened in front of 65 Emerald St. N. which is just north of King-William Street.
Investigation later revealed that the stabbing victim and the killer had both recently been released from Psychiatric Care and they were living together. In addition, a Forensic Examination of the bullet wound revealed that Bob fired from only 36” away, so this was definitely the last possible moment.
During the confrontation, Roy Johnston also fired at the culprit from behind but missed. Bob tells me that they were forever afterwards known as “Hit and Miss”.
This was a time before the Special Investigations Unit “SIU”, so Hamilton Police Inspectors Jim Campbell and Keith Farraway investigated the incident. They determined that Bob had no choice but to defend himself and the incident was justified.
A Coroner’s Jury was called to 
investigate the death and that Jury commended Bob for his courage during the incident.
Later in his career Bob was stopped at a light in his cruiser and a drunk driver drove into the back of the car. He was injured but did recover, but then he had a heart attack. After that he was assigned to be a Sergeant in the Records Branch.
Bob Nesbitt in the rear and Bob Arnotttraining officers for Crowd Control around 1970.
By Dave Bowen, Retired Inspector, Hamilton Police Service