Sgt. Eugene Tackleberry

This page is a list of characters in the Police Academy film and television series.

Cadet/Officer Mahoney is the lead character of the first four movies and the cartoon of the series. He is a troublemaking, womanizing cad with a heart of gold. His worst habit is retaliating against insults in bizarrely effective ways. For instance, the last straw before his police career was when he was a parking-lot attendant when he was forced to park a car for an abusive customer in a full parking lot; he put the car into a side-wheelie, crashed it between two cars and proudly proclaimed, "It fits!". Since his father was a decorated police officer, Mahoney was given the choice of the police academy or jail by his father's former boss, Captain Reed, who did not want Mahoney's antics to reflect poorly on his father. He is best known for protecting Commandant Lassard and playing practical jokes on Capt Harris, Mauser, Proctor, Blankes and Copeland, as the five men view Mahoney to be unworthy of being a police officer due to his carefree attitude about life. Despite his womanizing and his habit of breaking the rules, Mahoney is portrayed as being a good and courageous person willing to help those in need, regardless of the consequences. The fact that he graduates with a decoration for bravery speaks to that personal valor. By the third movie, Mahoney's dedication and love for his job as a police officer comes out, as he continually stands up for his cadets, and even gives a speech highlighting how important the cadets are to the Academy and to his peers which inspires the cadets to work harder and achieve their potential. In 4, Mahoney successfully lobbies to have two skateboarders, Arnie and Kyle, placed in the Citizens on Patrol program as an alternative to jail time, reminiscent of how Mahoney himself started in the Academy and had his life turn around for the better.

Mahoney is in the animated series, almost every time along with his partner Jones (when in action). He is absent from the last three films, a change that is unexplained. According to the producers, he was originally in the script for the fifth film, but Guttenberg declined the part.

Played by: Bubba Smith

Featured in all but the seventh film, Hightower was a florist before joining the academy. He is best known for his immense stature and superhuman strength. Hightower practices for his driving test by ripping the front seat out of a compact car (a 1977 Honda Civic owned by Copeland) and steering comfortably from the back seat. However, he is the most humble and soft-spoken of all the characters. Despite his gigantic size, Hightower has sometimes admitted that he lacks self-confidence, such as when he tells Mahoney that he has not driven a car since he was twelve years old, and fears that he will bilge out of the police academy if he flunks the driving test. His character often breaks things or uses force to threaten the bad guys. Other examples of him using his strength were when he lifted up the practice squad car with Copeland inside, who had insulted his friend Hooks by calling her a "dumb fat jiggaboo". He can also drop easily into bad-cop mode, to gain the trust of crooks he is about to arrest. However, he too graduated from the academy with a decoration for bravery, and eventually made lieutenant after wrestling an alligator in order to save Harris' life. Hightower also uses German Shepherd police dogs in the 3rd and 4th films, suggesting he got certified as a dog handler.

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