Andrew "Poke" Freeman was Lloyd Henreid's partner in crime in The Stand. He is a murderous, but not terribly intelligent petty criminal. He is killed when he and Lloyd attempt to rob a convenience store and find themselves in a gunfight instead.
Early years[]
Andrew Freeman was a petty criminal who'd met Lloyd Henreid while the two were incarcerated in a Nevada prison work farm. Freeman, released some time before Lloyd, met up with Lloyd when the latter was released.
The Plague[]
The two plot to rob a man named "Gorgeous" George, a weapons and drug supplier for the mob in both Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The plot was orchestrated by George and the duo to appear like a simple robbery, with the two agreeing to beat George in order to make the crime more convincing to George's superiors. However, Poke changes plans during the robbery and they kill George, suffocating him with duct tape.
The two then murder a family traveling in a Lincoln Continental, taking the car and going on a multi-state robbery and killing spree that produces a two-state manhunt. When they stop at a small crossroads town ("Burrack" in the novel) they charge into the local convenience store, intent on stealing money and supplies. Lloyd tries to tell the customers and the clerk in the store they have no intention of murdering anyone, a point that Poke immediately negates by shooting an elderly woman. Another customer, a cowboy at the register, calmly and steadily pulls out a large pistol and shoots at Poke, shredding one side of his face. Lloyd opens fire, killing the cowboy and blasting a good portion of the store. Poke temporarily recovers and marches up to the corpse of the cowboy, seemingly to unload his pistol into the body when the clerk shoots him dead with a sawed-off shotgun. The police arrive and arrest Lloyd as he tries to retreat, claiming he was a hapless victim. Lloyd is taken into custody to await trial.
Richard Lineback portrays Poke in the 1994 miniseries of the same name.