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Shot 5 Times: A Police Officer's Survival Story · Heroes Behind the Badge

• 0:10
  Dennis Collins: Hey, we're glad to see you again.
• 0:11
  A warm welcome back to heroes Behind The Badge.
• 0:15
  We tell real stories about real cops and we expose the fake news about police.
• 0:21
  And we give you the real truth.
• 0:24
  This podcast is brought to you by Citizens Behind The Badge, the leading
• 0:30
  voice of the American people in support of the men and women of law enforcement.
• 0:35
  Citizensbehindthebadge.
• 0:36
  org.
• 0:39
  I'm your host, Dennis Collins.
• 0:41
  Let me introduce my colleagues, Bill Urfurth.
• 0:44
  is a founding board member of Citizens Behind The Badge.
• 0:47
  He's a retired Miami Dade police lieutenant with 26 years of decorated service.
• 0:53
  And alongside Bill today, let me introduce the founder, the
• 0:58
  president, and the CEO of Citizens Behind The Badge, Craig Floyd.
• 1:03
  Many of you may know Craig as the founding CEO emeritus of the National
• 1:08
  Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington D.C. Welcome, Bill.
• 1:13
  Welcome, Craig.
• 1:16
  Today, gentlemen, we have a distinct honor.
• 1:21
  We are welcoming to our podcast, James Cusack, a law enforcement veteran whose story of sacrifice
• 1:29
  and survival embodies the true meaning of heroism, behind the badge.
• 1:34
  Jimmy served with distinction in Washington County, PA, where he spent nine years as a narcotics detective.
• 1:41
  Before he joined the city of Clairton police department as a certified defensive tactics
• 1:47
  instructor, he brought valuable expertise to his fellow officers.
• 1:52
  He currently serves as a Glock brand ambassador, a team
• 1:56
  Glock adaptive shooter, and a certified firearms instructor.
• 2:02
  If you haven't heard Jimmy's story, please stay tuned.
• 2:07
  It's an extraordinary story of courage.
• 2:10
  It was featured in the documentary film Heroes Behind The Badge, Sacrifice and Survival.
• 2:16
  Today, he continues to serve the law enforcement community, and we're proud to have Jimmy as a member
• 2:24
  of the Citizens Behind The Badge law enforcement advisory board.
• 2:29
  We are honored.
• 2:30
  We are privileged to have Jimmy here today to share in his
• 2:34
  own words, his powerful story of resilience and dedication.
• 2:39
  His journey is an inspiration and a testament to the spirit of the men and women who protect
• 2:47
  and serve our communities every day in law enforcement.
• 2:51
  Jimmy, you've been a great friend.
• 2:53
  You've set an outstanding example of what heroism is all about.
• 2:58
  We're honored to have you here with us today to share your story.
• 3:02
  Welcome.
• 3:03
  Good to see you.
• 3:05
  Jim Kuzak: Thanks, Dennis.
• 3:05
  It's good to see you as well and to sit here and speak with all of you.
• 3:09
  It's always a welcoming and heartfelt conversation with you guys.
• 3:14
  Dennis Collins: Well, we've always enjoyed being with you and your wife, Cris, and today, uh, for those who
• 3:21
  haven't heard your amazing story, we get a chance once again to never forget, to never forget your heroic actions,
• 3:30
  your courage, and your dedication to the law enforcement community.
• 3:34
  So I'd like to ask our leader, our fearless leader, Craig.
• 3:38
  To start us off today, he, he and Billy have some, some questions for you.
• 3:43
  I may chime in if they get off course, you know, sometimes they, they get a little, so I've got to
• 3:48
  step in and no, no, I'm not those guys, but I'm sure they'll do a
• 3:53
  great job of, of, of, of letting you have a chance to tell your story.
• 3:56
  Craig.
• 3:57
  Sure.
• 3:59
  Craig Floyd: Okay.
• 4:00
  You, you are truly one of those heroes Behind The Badge and we love to showcase people like yourself on
• 4:06
  this as a podcast, but you know, I'm going to take you back to May 13, 2013.
• 4:12
  That's when you and I first met.
• 4:15
  Uh, you were our July 2012 officer of the month at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
• 4:22
  Uh, we were having our conference annual officer of the month
• 4:25
  tribute luncheon uh, you were one of our 12 honorees that day.
• 4:31
  And, uh, I'll never forget the first time we met, uh, you were looking really good in your dress uniform.
• 4:38
  I seem to recall your parents were there with you.
• 4:41
  But really what stood out for me that day in our first meeting was this beautiful blonde on your side.
• 4:48
  She was really striking, I must say.
• 4:51
  Um, and I remember it like it was yesterday.
• 4:54
  Um, and, and here we are 12 years later.
• 4:57
  Uh, still good friends, still staying in touch, still working together.
• 5:03
  Uh, you were one of the first people I reached out to, uh, when I wanted to form a law enforcement advisory council.
• 5:10
  I wanted to pick some officers that I had the highest respect for.
• 5:15
  And, uh, you were certainly one of those officers.
• 5:18
  Um, you have quite a story to tell and.
• 5:20
  You know, I was looking back at our officer of the month tribute and, uh, the write up we did for you, it still
• 5:27
  appears on the national law enforcement officers, memorial funds website.
• 5:31
  Uh, anyone can go there and see it along with all the other officers of the month we've honored over the years.
• 5:38
  But it said, uh, patrolman Kuzak believes that if anything good resulted from his encounter with the two gunmen.
• 5:47
  It was an opportunity to shine a light on the law enforcement profession and
• 5:52
  raise awareness of the courage and bravery of the men and women who serve.
• 5:58
  And Jimmy, I couldn't agree more.
• 6:01
  Uh, that is what you have been a inspiration to so many with your story.
• 6:05
  And I'd like you to take us back to April 4th, 2011, to the incident that changed your life forever
• 6:14
  and put an end to your 18 years of distinguished law enforcement service.
• 6:20
  Tell us what happened that day.
• 6:23
  Jim Kuzak: It's been a little while since I've thought about it.
• 6:25
  You know, this far removed from it, you kind of, uh, set yourself apart from it and you move on.
• 6:31
  But going back to it, you know, once you start thinking about it, it's all right there.
• 6:36
  And on April 4th, I went to work.
• 6:39
  It was probably, I think I started my shift at 8 p. m. that night, or no, excuse me, it was at 4 p. m., and I
• 6:46
  was going to be working through the evening with my two partners, Matt McDaniel at the time and John Steiner.
• 6:52
  So just a normal day to start off.
• 6:54
  You go in, you review your reports, you see what the guys were up to, what calls
• 6:58
  we've had, and then you go out and get in the car and you start your patrol.
• 7:02
  And We had a few calls that evening, nothing major.
• 7:06
  I think we believe we had a domestic and as the night went on, it started to rain, you know, Western Pennsylvania
• 7:12
  and April's a very rainy month, usually pretty cold, but it wasn't too bad.
• 7:17
  I remember at least preparing for work that night, wearing a long sleeve shirt and, uh, we got on the road.
• 7:24
  So it was about, uh, I believe we got the call.
• 7:27
  It was around 1047 or 1045 that evening.
• 7:33
  We received a call to go to, um, Miller Avenue for what was considered a disturbance.
• 7:40
  Uh, that disturbance was called in by the neighbor being of one of two places of the duplex on Miller
• 7:48
  Avenue called to say, there's something going on next door.
• 7:52
  We don't know what we can hear the yelling.
• 7:53
  If we can hear the noises going on.
• 7:56
  So that's all we had to go on right away.
• 7:58
  So as we responded, uh, we got more information that it could be either a
• 8:03
  domestic or I believe it was stated, it might be a possible home invasion.
• 8:08
  So I arrived first, parked about two, three houses from the scene and come up my lights out so nobody could see me.
• 8:15
  And then Matt arrived as well.
• 8:17
  We stepped out of our patrol units.
• 8:19
  Matt grabbed his, uh, long rifle and AR 15 and I went out just,
• 8:24
  you know, with My handgun and John arrived as well and we both.
• 8:30
  Uh, John, what we had already come to see, which was we could see some shadows
• 8:36
  moving in front of the window in the upstairs, uh, of the, of the house.
• 8:41
  So we said, let's approach, we'll go up to the front of the house.
• 8:44
  I'll go to the rear of the house.
• 8:46
  And Matt was going to kind of just look over both of us.
• 8:49
  So as I walked along the side of the house, listening, I could hear sound like footsteps.
• 8:54
  Some rushing moving around.
• 8:55
  I went to was, uh, the rear of the home was a deck and what I say as a deck is it was very small.
• 9:01
  It was maybe four to five feet wide and maybe about four to six feet deep.
• 9:07
  Four steps to get up to where the door was.
• 9:10
  So I walked up the steps.
• 9:12
  Same time I was prepared for what we had going on.
• 9:15
  I had my handgun out.
• 9:16
  I was just addressing what I needed to, which is my safety and let's see,
• 9:21
  could we gain any type of response from the people inside the home?
• 9:25
  Well, as soon as I walked up the steps, I noticed that the rear door,
• 9:28
  a large white steel door, was cracked open about a quarter to half an inch.
• 9:33
  So I like, as I quietly as best I could, I approached the door and abruptly the door shut.
• 9:40
  So at that point in time, I announced myself, Clareton Police, opened the door, repeated attempts, no
• 9:45
  one did, so I immediately backed away and tried to kick the door.
• 9:50
  That being a steel door, it didn't want to go.
• 9:52
  So I backed away, came down the steps, got the attention of Matt and John.
• 9:57
  And we amassed on the side of the house again, watching the front and back.
• 10:00
  And John told me, he says, Hey, I made contact at the front door.
• 10:05
  The door was opened only a crack and a male just stated it.
• 10:08
  Everything's fine here.
• 10:09
  Just leave us be.
• 10:09
  And he slammed the door in John's face.
• 10:11
  John says, I didn't feel right.
• 10:14
  I didn't get to see the guy.
• 10:15
  So we know something's going on.
• 10:17
  I said, okay.
• 10:19
  I said, since something's going on in the front and back, that's the
• 10:22
  only two ways they had to exit the house short of jumping out a window.
• 10:26
  So we went towards the back of the house.
• 10:29
  And again, I approached the steps, John was behind me, but at the time I didn't know how closely John was
• 10:36
  to me, and I knew Matt was a little bit back, kind of giving us cover.
• 10:42
  Now again, it was pitch black dark at night in, in April, uh, it had begun to drizzle and rain a little bit.
• 10:49
  And it just kind of sets the, the feeling of something's not right.
• 10:54
  So we knew something was serious in the house and we would shortly find out.
• 11:01
  Once I reached the top of the deck, I walked towards the door, but I wanted to step to the side a little bit.
• 11:06
  And just as I did that, the door opened abruptly and all I saw was a black doorway.
• 11:15
  And then the next thing I saw was an orange muzzle flash.
• 11:19
  That was a shock.
• 11:20
  I didn't expect any of that to come.
• 11:22
  I expected that I was going to read resistance at the door, but nothing to that degree.
• 11:27
  With a little bit of my experience, having been involved with the defensive tactics and firearms, um, I had the
• 11:33
  knowledge of, you know, the flight or fight syndrome of where your body just reacts to a given stimulus.
• 11:41
  Well, that stimulus was.
• 11:43
  What I believe to be gunfire and the muzzle flash of a weapon.
• 11:46
  Immediately I had auditory exclusion.
• 11:49
  I couldn't really hear anything.
• 11:50
  And what little sight I had with the being that dark was the muzzle flash.
• 11:59
  Immediately upon that first shot, I didn't know that I had been
• 12:05
  struck and where I had been struck was as I was bladed at the door.
• 12:09
  The first round struck my right forearm, midway, and then traveled to my elbow and lodged at my elbow.
• 12:16
  Uh, that immediately took my gun away from me.
• 12:19
  I didn't know this.
• 12:20
  It was later found about 15 feet away from me.
• 12:24
  But as I was standing there, and again, in my time, time has slowed down.
• 12:29
  It's, the second seemed like minutes to me.
• 12:34
  The second shot had gone.
• 12:35
  Third shot had gone.
• 12:37
  At this time, I didn't know if they had struck me or not.
• 12:41
  The fourth shot would be the most devastating to me at that point in time.
• 12:45
  It had struck my left chest area right near my armpit where it had gone through the corner of the vest, traveled
• 12:55
  through the vest into my chest, struck a rib, and then that bullet traveled down through my body and across my T11
• 13:03
  vertebrae where it immediately rendered me paralyzed from the waist down.
• 13:07
  So I went from standing to an immediate drop.
• 13:10
  And during that drop, a fifth round struck me in my left armpit.
• 13:15
  And when my body hit the floor of the deck, my head struck back on the banister kind of sent me for a
• 13:21
  little more of a loop and I busted one of the spindles out of the deck.
• 13:26
  So at this time, I really don't know who had shot me.
• 13:30
  I just knew that I, I had been injured and injured gravely.
• 13:34
  Sitting there on the deck and again Tom standing still for me.
• 13:40
  I know that I'm addressing what's going on I know that I'm still awake.
• 13:44
  I'm still alive.
• 13:45
  I'm still breathing The breathing is getting difficult.
• 13:50
  Very difficult as each breath I take I just can't get that breath in But then as I am sitting there I could see a
• 14:00
  pair of legs walking out towards me and I thought this has got to be the end This person is not going to let me live.
• 14:09
  I don't know who it is, but I know it's somebody in there that has just tried to harm me or tried to kill me.
• 14:16
  So I guess I kind of think of it as I kind of turned my head expecting that last round.
• 14:22
  And it never happened.
• 14:23
  That person continued on over me and I didn't see where they went.
• 14:28
  So now my
• 14:32
  response to all this is, okay, you, you've got to get out of here.
• 14:36
  I don't know where my firearm is.
• 14:37
  Now, the next thing is I got to try and contact somebody or contact my partners.
• 14:41
  I reach for my microphone on my chest.
• 14:44
  It's not there.
• 14:45
  So my radio is not functional.
• 14:47
  Now I reaching around from my farm.
• 14:50
  I can't find it either.
• 14:52
  I know that I can feel warmth on the left side of my chest.
• 14:56
  I know that's where I've been struck, but I can feel
• 15:00
  if you've just would to spill a drink on yourself and it keeps
• 15:03
  pouring on you, I can just feel that coming out of my left chest.
• 15:06
  And I know that This isn't good.
• 15:09
  You really need to do something about this.
• 15:12
  And then my mind shifted past All of the training that I'd done of how you need to respond in a shooting
• 15:19
  situation or what you need to do, and it went towards, um, the important things in life, what appeared to
• 15:28
  me, what appeared to me was, um, I don't know, it was a favorite, but
• 15:33
  my grandmother, the past was in my memory or in my right in my mind.
• 15:39
  Uh, who I was very close to.
• 15:42
  Then the next thing it kind of comes into is your family.
• 15:44
  My mother, my father, and Cris, they're just right there in my mind.
• 15:50
  And what, what does this mean?
• 15:52
  Is this, what's going to be the, the last of what I do?
• 15:57
  And then it was our dogs.
• 16:00
  We had the time, we had two German shepherds, one Zarwin, large, big.
• 16:04
  Brown and black Shepherd.
• 16:06
  And we had Xena was a smaller Shepherd.
• 16:09
  She was Cris's working dog at the time in search and rescue.
• 16:12
  And I could see them sitting on my chest, panting, looking at me like, yeah, it's hard to breathe.
• 16:17
  So what?
• 16:20
  And once I got that in my mind and we'll.
• 16:22
  Was important.
• 16:24
  I knew that something clicked and said I'm not dying here on this porch nothing's gonna let me die
• 16:31
  on this porch and Garnered up the strength that I could and I
• 16:36
  breathed in as much as I could and I started yelling I'm hit Matt John.
• 16:42
  I'm down, but I didn't hear anything.
• 16:45
  I didn't hear anybody coming I didn't know what was going on.
• 16:49
  What I didn't know was how close John was to me And I only found this out later on in the trial.
• 16:56
  Uh, John had been basically at the base of the steps in the line of fire and he wasn't struck, but then as soon
• 17:05
  as the fire firing started, he took cover right to the corner of the deck and Matt was back far enough that he
• 17:11
  was to the side of the house, didn't see so much of who was shooting.
• 17:16
  They both thought I was the one doing the shooting.
• 17:19
  Obviously it wasn't the case.
• 17:21
  So now that Matt and John saw a person run through the yard, they began to give chase and ran about the 10 yards
• 17:30
  to the alleyway and got to the alleyway, maybe a little bit deeper than 10.
• 17:35
  They started to run and then Matt said he heard something, which must've been me.
• 17:41
  And he spins around with his AR and has a flashlight on it and comes up to me on the porch.
• 17:47
  Now at the time we were all wearing black BDUs, um, a little subdued with the colors, and we had on
• 17:53
  silver patches that were subdued, kind of lettering on them as well.
• 17:58
  And he come up and he saw the body and he's like, okay, there's one of them.
• 18:01
  And then he looked and he said, that's Jimmy.
• 18:04
  He yelled for John and they came back.
• 18:07
  And at that point, that's when they knew that, Hey, I hadn't been the one doing the shooting.
• 18:12
  Matt had been a lifelong EMT as well, worked on an ambulance.
• 18:16
  So to my luck, that's what he did as well as a police officer.
• 18:21
  Matt immediately slung his rifle to the rear, told me he's going to have to pull me off the deck.
• 18:27
  Matt pulled me off, threw me up over his shoulder.
• 18:29
  Now Matt's.
• 18:32
  Five, nine, you know, just over 200 pounds, you know, I'm probably over 205 with our gear on.
• 18:40
  And he humped me up over his shoulder.
• 18:43
  My head was over his back and he started running me out to the front of the house with jaw and giving cover.
• 18:52
  Went about a house down to the sidewalk and that's where They were gonna try and take care of me in the biggest thing.
• 18:59
  I remembered out of Matt Carrying me was why is my head bouncing off of his butt and it to me?
• 19:08
  It's funny it's funny now that I think about it because Okay, you're probably
• 19:14
  in the process of actively dying, and this is what comes to your brain.
• 19:20
  So, when we get out to the sidewalk, Matt says he placed me on the ground.
• 19:26
  I say he dropped me, um, because it felt like my head hit again, so that would have been number two.
• 19:32
  But then Matt says, Jimmy, I gotta find out what's going on.
• 19:34
  I said, okay.
• 19:36
  And it's blurry what I see.
• 19:38
  I don't really see everything.
• 19:39
  I don't know if that was just from me hitting my head or just the entire situation of what was going on.
• 19:45
  Matt ripped my shirt open, took my vest off, moved me, and he said, Jimmy, this is gonna hurt.
• 19:49
  Now at this point in time, I haven't felt pain.
• 19:53
  I didn't know what was going on other than I knew I was, I was wounded bad.
• 19:58
  And let's say I was hoping for the best.
• 20:03
  Matt reaches up and grabs at the site where the bullet went in on my left side.
• 20:07
  And that was the first time I felt pain and boy, did I scream out in pain and.
• 20:13
  I remember feeling the rain on my face, him working on me, John speaking to me.
• 20:19
  And then I heard another voice.
• 20:20
  It sounded familiar.
• 20:21
  Well, at this point in time, I didn't realize they did know.
• 20:25
  And the guys were giving out every command they could.
• 20:28
  And in Allegheny County at the time.
• 20:32
  You're dealing with, uh, a large County that had 127 different police
• 20:37
  departments, three major city police departments and a sheriff's department.
• 20:42
  So when we need assistance in small departments, they dispatch will call out an all call, which is any and
• 20:49
  all available cars respond to our location in the city of Clarendon.
• 20:55
  So as that was already happening, I started hearing sirens.
• 20:58
  Uh, another officer from another department had arrived and.
• 21:01
  I remember hearing his voice and he says, Jimmy, it's Timmy.
• 21:05
  I said, I know Tim, I can hear your voice, but I couldn't do much else.
• 21:10
  I remember the ambulance arriving.
• 21:13
  I can hear them coming up.
• 21:14
  I hear the common sound of the stretcher being pulled in and now they're starting to work on me.
• 21:20
  And they immediately lift me up, toss me on the, uh, the cot and start moving me towards the ambulance.
• 21:27
  I hear all these voices and I'm just trying to stay alive.
• 21:30
  I'm just trying to breathe.
• 21:32
  They try and get me in the ambulance.
• 21:33
  And I remember hearing them say.
• 21:35
  Get the damn caught in the ambulance already.
• 21:38
  Well, for some reason, you're hurrying.
• 21:40
  It just kept smacking off the back of the ambulance.
• 21:42
  They couldn't get it in.
• 21:44
  They get me inside the ambulance and, and it starts.
• 21:47
  Uh, I was fortunate enough to have, uh, a longstanding paramedic on the, on the ambulance, a longstanding
• 21:56
  other EMT paramedic on the ambulance, and a young girl that.
• 22:01
  Who was just starting her EMT career.
• 22:04
  So I later find out it was quite the shock to her.
• 22:08
  And unfortunately she, she quit EMT and stuff shortly thereafter.
• 22:12
  And I can understand why it's seeing somebody, let alone an officer shot is, is very difficult.
• 22:21
  So once in the ambulance, uh, the doors close and.
• 22:24
  We get on our way and I could hear that, you know, they were, were intending
• 22:28
  on having me go by life flight or at the time we had stat medevac as well.
• 22:33
  Well, within the city of Clareton, we still have a functioning steel mill.
• 22:37
  So at that point they have a helipad and that's where we were not but two, three minutes away from.
• 22:45
  But the rain had gotten so bad that, uh, stat medevac said, we can't fly.
• 22:51
  Okay.
• 22:52
  That's kind of a bummer.
• 22:53
  Let's see what else we can do.
• 22:54
  So they take off in the ambulance, not wasting time.
• 22:58
  Well, Doug driving the ambulance got ahead of the police car.
• 23:01
  So he's the lead vehicle now, as we went down to eight 37.
• 23:05
  Uh, commonly referred to as, uh, it's State Street to us, but it's
• 23:10
  a major, major thoroughfare for everybody traveling along the river.
• 23:14
  A car pulled out in front of the ambulance and he had to avoid that.
• 23:17
  And I remember when he did that part of my, my one leg fell off the cot.
• 23:22
  They had already had an IV that had been ripped out because the paramedics and the EMT couldn't see as well
• 23:27
  as I. So trying to right yourself in an ambulance where you can't see is, is a difficult prospect.
• 23:35
  So I remember.
• 23:36
  I don't know who any of them said, well, can you pick your leg back up?
• 23:39
  And I says, nah, I already told you I'm paralyzed.
• 23:42
  So I knew it.
• 23:43
  I don't know how or when I quickly knew it, but, but I did.
• 23:48
  Uh, it's,
• 23:50
  Craig Floyd: it's a very real with it, Jimmy.
• 23:52
  Yeah.
• 23:52
  And you realize you're paralyzed for the first time, maybe.
• 23:56
  Uh, how did that hit you?
• 23:59
  Jim Kuzak: You know, Craig, when it was going through the process, I don't want to say a process, but through the
• 24:04
  incident, it didn't register like that that was an issue at the point in time.
• 24:09
  I just knew that my legs weren't working and a feeling that you've never felt before.
• 24:15
  Uh, they just, I heard this described by another, uh, person, my dear
• 24:20
  friend, or what you want to call paraplegics or quadriplegics.
• 24:23
  We, they say, put your hand on the desk or on a countertop.
• 24:28
  And try and only move your ring finger off of that countertop.
• 24:34
  Most people can't do it.
• 24:36
  Your middle finger follows or anything, but just to move just that finger,
• 24:40
  you sit there and you're telling it in your mind to move, but it doesn't.
• 24:43
  Well, that's kind of how it is.
• 24:44
  I'm trying to tell my legs to move.
• 24:46
  I'm trying to say, let's get up and run, but it doesn't happen.
• 24:50
  So that's kind of like your first, you know, thing right there that it's not working.
• 24:56
  You don't know why, but let's move on.
• 24:59
  And that's kind of how I dealt with it immediately.
• 25:02
  But biggest, the bigger thing was, I really couldn't breathe.
• 25:05
  What I didn't know was that that bullet pretty much destroyed most of my left lung.
• 25:10
  So, and at the time, I was told that my right lung started to collapse as well.
• 25:16
  So I remember in the ambulance him saying he's going to have to, um, poke through a needle into my chest
• 25:21
  to relieve the, the pressure and the air and the buildup in there.
• 25:25
  And he did.
• 25:26
  It helped a little bit and then it started going south again.
• 25:29
  So he did it on the right side as well.
• 25:31
  And that, I guess, helped him breathe a little bit, but still to me, it was so difficult.
• 25:39
  I don't, I even know it's, everybody has run, you know what it's like to kind of exhaust yourself and running or to
• 25:46
  some point you're huffing and puffing and trying to get that breath in.
• 25:50
  And that's kind of what's happening.
• 25:52
  But there's no relief to it.
• 25:54
  I can still feel the pressure of the blood coming out of my left side.
• 25:57
  It's, you just feel it.
• 25:58
  It's that warmth of, um, just itself coming down onto your body somewhere.
• 26:05
  Well, fortunate enough, the city of Pittsburgh has three trauma level
• 26:08
  hospitals, and we were only, you know, on the better end of 20 minutes from it.
• 26:14
  Our ambulance trip, they told me, took about 17 minutes.
• 26:18
  And I remember The whole hearing the backup beep on the ambulance
• 26:22
  when we backed up and then they opened the doors to the ambulance.
• 26:25
  Most of the lights shut off and the exterior lights turn on.
• 26:28
  And I could feel being drug out on the cot and going into the hospital.
• 26:33
  And the other thing, it's oddly how it strikes you as you go in a hospital, I'm looking straight up to
• 26:38
  the ceiling and I just see the lights going by and it just reminded me of.
• 26:42
  Seeing the sitcoms on TV of E. R. and stuff and how they drop back to showing you those lights.
• 26:50
  And I'm like, okay, and then I started hearing all the voices.
• 26:55
  Everybody running around trying to do things and I remember
• 26:57
  talking to the doctor asking me, What hurts or what can you feel?
• 27:01
  And I said, well, Nothing greatly hurts other than I can feel right on the right side of my ass.
• 27:06
  It just is burning.
• 27:09
  And he's like, okay.
• 27:11
  And then I don't remember anything, but to me, what was the end?
• 27:15
  And what it was is still having some level of consciousness and then going to solid white.
• 27:25
  It wasn't black.
• 27:26
  It wasn't anything.
• 27:28
  I wasn't nervous.
• 27:29
  I didn't know if it was me going out or them putting me out.
• 27:34
  And uh, that was the end of the night for me.
• 27:38
  It just kind of ended that way.
• 27:40
  Craig Floyd: Basically, as I recall you telling me before that it was those first 48 hours that were so
• 27:46
  critical to your survival, there was a lot of concern about whether
• 27:50
  or not you would actually live through this ordeal, and you did.
• 27:54
  And you look great today.
• 27:56
  Um, and you, and you've got a pretty good life, my friend, especially
• 27:59
  with that striking blonde, Cris, uh, still by your side, by the way.
• 28:03
  Um, Bill, I know you have some questions for Jimmy and, and maybe you can pick up the story in terms
• 28:09
  of what happened to these two thugs, uh, the criminal justice process that, uh, took place afterwards.
• 28:16
  Um, why don't you go ahead and take us there?
• 28:18
  You did a documentary telling Jimmy's story.
• 28:21
  You know it as well as anyone.
• 28:23
  Bill Erfurth: Yeah.
• 28:24
  So Jimmy.
• 28:25
  Let's, um, let's just kind of cut to the chase.
• 28:27
  We, we, you know, we, we know clearly the hospital did a great job.
• 28:32
  Uh, I know this, the stories and the trials and tribulations at the time you
• 28:36
  spent in the hospital, but why don't we jump into telling what happened?
• 28:42
  I mean, why, what was going on inside that house?
• 28:44
  I think now that you've just explained that you got shot, all these
• 28:47
  things, people are probably thinking what the hell was going on there.
• 28:53
  Jim Kuzak: Yes.
• 28:54
  It was quite odd.
• 28:56
  I had shortened to be going back just a little bit.
• 28:59
  I'd only been at the city of Clareton at the time that I was shot for three weeks.
• 29:04
  Three weeks is the only time I've been there.
• 29:06
  I went back to that department to, I say, start my second law enforcement career.
• 29:10
  I'd already done 18 years in other departments, and now I was going forward.
• 29:17
  What we find out later on was, what had actually happened to the home,
• 29:21
  On that side of the duplex lived a family, husband, wife, and two kids.
• 29:26
  Unfortunately, the husband's career was a drug dealer and he was known that was known that that's where you could go.
• 29:36
  He dealt out of the house.
• 29:38
  The wife was very much aware that this is the life they lived.
• 29:42
  And it was, excuse me, for lack of better terms, drug dealing central, excuse me.
• 29:49
  So two thugs, as we describe them, arrived at that door at about 10 45 at night.
• 29:59
  knocking on the back door, claiming to be the FBI and to let them in.
• 30:05
  I don't know about you, I don't think the FBI usually comes to your door at 10 o'clock at night.
• 30:11
  It may be.
• 30:12
  In the mornings and stuff, but don't open your door and these idiots did and it was We'll name them now Emilio
• 30:21
  Rivera Was the 26 year old that first went in the house I believe
• 30:27
  and then well, I almost have to remember the name of the second one.
• 30:31
  It'll come to me They went there saying they were the FBI and their intent was to go into that house Get
• 30:37
  the drugs get them money and I guess get out that didn't happen They got into the house, they immediately
• 30:44
  grabbed the husband, they get the wife, and they get the two kids, and they take them down into the basement.
• 30:50
  And in the basement, I guess, from what I'm told, the husband gets pistol whipped, gets beat up a little bit,
• 30:59
  and then they took one of the children, and I can't remember which, and they either placed the gun to his head or
• 31:06
  to their mouth and said, we're gonna give us the drugs and the money, or we're just gonna kill your child.
• 31:13
  So Emilio grabs the wife, takes her upstairs to retrieve the drugs.
• 31:19
  So they go to the third floor of the duplex and at the third floor, he gets, I believe the cash and the drugs.
• 31:27
  But at this point in time, he's going to, he's going to rape the wife.
• 31:33
  He has her up against the wall, had already pulled her pants down
• 31:37
  and was, this is her description, kissing her on the neck.
• 31:44
  And I guess right upon that precipice to rape her.
• 31:50
  It just timing of that is when I arrived on scene and I could see that light on and that third floor Well at that
• 31:58
  same time he whatever caused him to look saw the police there as well so he stopped immediately takes her they run
• 32:07
  back downstairs and Now they're caught caught meaning they only have the front door the back door They're rushing
• 32:18
  around trying to figure out what they're gonna do And that's when one of them closed the back door when I arrived.
• 32:24
  And we believe Amelia Rivera was the one that was at the front door talking to John.
• 32:30
  So now they address each other and say, we're going to have to shoot our way out.
• 32:37
  And I, this happened in the kitchen, which is where the rear door was where I was.
• 32:41
  And we get this information from the wife as she testified in, in, uh, the preliminary hearing and
• 32:47
  in court, but they said, yeah, we're going to shoot our way out.
• 32:50
  And that's what they did.
• 32:52
  Uh, waited there until I come up.
• 32:55
  And when they saw that I was on that door, there was a window immediately to the left of the deck, but not on it.
• 33:01
  And I guess they could either hear or see me coming up.
• 33:04
  And that's when they decided to fire.
• 33:06
  We found out through the trial that Amelia Rivera was the person shooting me.
• 33:12
  Now, I was shot five times.
• 33:16
  Could have been either a five shot revolver or a six shot revolver because we found no shell casings at the scene.
• 33:23
  This was the Allegheny County Police.
• 33:25
  Homicide division investigating no shell casings that would indicate that that was the case
• 33:31
  because they didn't stay behind at least one ran after I was shot.
• 33:36
  So, but also we never retrieved the firearms to know exactly what it was.
• 33:42
  We know that the rounds that.
• 33:45
  I was struck by, it was 38 caliber, uh, with the, uh, one that they retrieved from my elbow, the bullet.
• 33:54
  And there was also, oddly enough, an almost completely intact bullet found on the deck.
• 34:02
  In one of the, the, uh, the crevices that meet the boards.
• 34:05
  And it was almost, they said, pristine.
• 34:07
  So it was almost like one of the ones that crossed across the
• 34:09
  front of my vest hit and stopped and was found there on the deck.
• 34:13
  Uh, so yeah, that's kind of the short of what happened to them right there.
• 34:19
  I don't know how far we want to go into the trial.
• 34:21
  So Jimmy,
• 34:22
  Bill Erfurth: clearly a couple of career criminal scumbags.
• 34:25
  Yes.
• 34:26
  Unquestionably the trial itself.
• 34:29
  There was some twists and turns.
• 34:31
  They're convicted from my understanding.
• 34:34
  What I recall is they get life in prison.
• 34:36
  However, it turns into a bit of a shit show with the sentencing.
• 34:41
  And I want you to explain, you know what I'm talking about, about your particular situation of being shot.
• 34:50
  Jim Kuzak: So we, we went through a rather long trial.
• 34:52
  It was one of the longer ones they told me in Allegheny County's history.
• 34:55
  It was five weeks.
• 34:57
  You know, we know that through the investigation, you've got the two people that.
• 35:02
  Wholeheartedly, we believe and are alleging committed these crimes.
• 35:06
  So, Emilio Rivera is convicted.
• 35:09
  Now, if you think back, he was convicted.
• 35:14
  The other one, which, why I don't, can't remember his name is how far out I put it, um, he was acquitted of all charges.
• 35:25
  And I equate that to, he had the better attorney.
• 35:29
  Anytime that we had, uh, testimony or discussions involving his name, There was a sidebar.
• 35:37
  His attorney brought it up and he did everything he could to keep
• 35:40
  his testimony about his client either not ongoing or not at all.
• 35:47
  Craig Floyd: That's unbelievable to me.
• 35:48
  If I just might cut in that, uh, I thought anytime there's
• 35:51
  an accomplice, uh, to a crime, they may not have fired the gun.
• 35:57
  Um, but clearly they were part of the crime and thus they should pay the penalty.
• 36:03
  Um, how in the world, whether you have a good attorney or not.
• 36:06
  I mean, how do you get off when they're, this involves, you know, attempted rape, a home invasion, shooting a
• 36:14
  cop, nearly killing a police officer, and this guy gets off scot free.
• 36:19
  I can't understand that.
• 36:22
  I
• 36:22
  Jim Kuzak: just remembered his name, Marcus Andrake, and there's a little bit of a separation that came out in trial.
• 36:28
  Uh, Emilio at the time was 26, and at the time, Marcus was 18.
• 36:34
  We later find out that the reason they knew that this house was the guy that had the drug dealer was, uh, Marcus had
• 36:40
  dated then one of the girls that was in the set, the other side of the duplex.
• 36:47
  So he had been over there many times.
• 36:48
  He already knew that that gentleman, not gentleman, but the guy there that lived there, he was a drug dealer.
• 36:54
  So this is how they knew.
• 36:55
  Because, uh, Emilio didn't live there.
• 36:58
  Marcus didn't live there.
• 36:59
  So that came up in trials as to why.
• 37:02
  Uh, how he got acquitted, I have no idea.
• 37:06
  I only look at that as when you look at a jury, sometimes they just aren't the people you would like there.
• 37:14
  They're supposed to be your peers.
• 37:16
  Sometimes peers aren't all that intelligent.
• 37:20
  I equate this to, we've all seen it.
• 37:23
  How many years has CSI been on TV?
• 37:26
  How many things do they accomplish in an hour that.
• 37:30
  in real life takes years.
• 37:33
  So when you go through the trial and you see what comedy of errors occurred, you can kind of understand that, yeah,
• 37:41
  I can see how he got acquitted because there was just too much going on.
• 37:45
  Uh, there's, I mean, there's just so many things to enumerate
• 37:51
  that happened in the trial that you just can't believe.
• 37:53
  We had one of the jurors tossed because it turns out they did not admit that she was a friend of.
• 37:59
  Uh, Emilio Rivera's sister, who was sitting behind him, she worked together with her in a nursing home.
• 38:06
  And the reason we found that out, Cris's mother went to the
• 38:09
  trial one day and said, Hey, I know her, sitting on the jury.
• 38:13
  And she told Cris, how do you know her?
• 38:15
  Cris says, what's going on?
• 38:17
  She says, we all work together in the nursing home.
• 38:20
  So we had to remove her from the, from the jury.
• 38:23
  So then you put another person on one of the alternates.
• 38:25
  And then one time when I was sitting there, this is one of the smaller courtrooms in Allegheny County.
• 38:30
  Uh, remind you, the Allegheny County courthouse is built in, I think, late 1800s.
• 38:37
  So it's literally this old massive building that, uh, doesn't have courtrooms you see on TV.
• 38:43
  They're not very large.
• 38:45
  They only have a few.
• 38:45
  So the jurors were literally five feet away from where I was in the gallery.
• 38:53
  There was only two rows of seats for the gallery.
• 38:55
  So they leave the courtroom, the jurors start filing out, and the last juror, when the door opens, it
• 39:02
  literally comes to the point where I can grab the doorknob and hold it.
• 39:05
  So that's what I did.
• 39:06
  I held the door.
• 39:08
  And as the last juror, a female, walks out, she said, thank you.
• 39:11
  And I said, you're welcome.
• 39:13
  Come back from lunch, there's a sidebar and the judge states that the
• 39:18
  defense attorney stated that I had contact and was speaking with the jury.
• 39:23
  And it was over because I said, you're welcome.
• 39:26
  So they didn't toss that juror out, but that was something that came up that another complaint from the
• 39:32
  defense that went to the judge was we asked the, the judge stopped after lunch and stated, we'd like to
• 39:39
  ask the Kuzak family to stop giving the defendants The death stare.
• 39:46
  Well, my father was seated next to me and sitting there and I'm
• 39:48
  sure looking at them intently with rage and anger in his eyes.
• 39:54
  And they had the defense attorney brought that up to tell my father, basically, don't do that.
• 40:00
  How do you do that?
• 40:01
  How do you tell somebody sitting there knowing that this, these people tried to kill his son and.
• 40:10
  And you sit there and you tell this man, no, you can't do that.
• 40:15
  Um, and I was so concerned that I actually said to one of the deputies
• 40:19
  in the courtroom, I said, could you please, uh, pay attention to my father?
• 40:23
  Cause I just don't know what's going to cause him to crack.
• 40:26
  I don't know if he's going to, um, you know, reach out, try and grab
• 40:31
  one of these guys, because that's the close quarters we were in.
• 40:35
  And, um, I was concerned for him.
• 40:40
  Uh, we had another incident when they had a confidential informant on the stand asking him about, uh,
• 40:47
  Amelia Rivera, admitting to him on tape that he should have gone back and finished me off and killed me,
• 40:55
  the judge, uh, the defense attorneys were dealing with him.
• 40:57
  And as the prosecutor said to him, he says, well, did you ever.
• 41:02
  Anybody ever know that you were the person telling the police what was going on?
• 41:06
  And he says, I don't think so.
• 41:07
  But one time I was out in the parking lot and these two guys,
• 41:10
  another guy approached me and said, yeah, we know what you were doing.
• 41:13
  And they basically were saying, you know, you're the snitch.
• 41:16
  The prosecutor says, well, have you ever seen these people again?
• 41:21
  He's like, yeah, there they are.
• 41:23
  So we know where they are.
• 41:24
  In the back of the gallery, there were two black males that weren't dressed appropriately for court.
• 41:29
  I would say more in gang colors.
• 41:30
  And he said, those two, they threatened me.
• 41:34
  So immediately the deputies have to turn away, go to the back, and place these two under arrest for jury tampering.
• 41:42
  And not jury tampering, um, can't find the words right now.
• 41:45
  Intimidation.
• 41:46
  Intimidation.
• 41:47
  Yeah.
• 41:48
  That's it.
• 41:49
  So now you have that happening in the middle of the trial.
• 41:51
  Everybody's having to get up and get back and all the deputies come running in and they take them out.
• 41:55
  Craig Floyd: Bill, I know you, um, have some interesting footage that you wanted to show.
• 42:01
  Jimmy, when we were together at the officer of the month luncheon, You
• 42:05
  had said you were optimistic that someday you would be walking again.
• 42:09
  And I know it's been a long haul for you, but I know you have made some progress.
• 42:14
  And, uh, Bill, you have some amazing footage of Jimmy actually,
• 42:18
  uh, going through his rehab and getting close to walking himself.
• 42:23
  Bill Erfurth: Yeah.
• 42:23
  So I do want to revisit that with you, Jimmy, and you and I had the opportunity to do this.
• 42:29
  To do this film together, this documentary is called, uh, heroes Behind The Badge, sacrifice and survival
• 42:35
  in the documentary, you and I, uh, go back to the scene of the crime,
• 42:41
  back to those steps of the back of the house where you were first shot.
• 42:45
  And, uh, we're going to show that clip.
• 42:47
  And then I want to talk about that just a little bit.
• 42:50
  Jim Kuzak: Okay.
• 42:51
  And all I saw was, was the muzzle flash.
• 42:56
  When I went down, I knew I was paralyzed.
• 42:58
  I didn't know the last time I walked up those four steps was the last time I was going to ever walk.
• 43:05
  Bill Erfurth: That I recall being very emotional.
• 43:08
  Not only for you, because of course, that's the first time you've been back there.
• 43:12
  So it just brings back all of those feelings and, and emotions at that time.
• 43:19
  But it was, it was emotional for me.
• 43:21
  Talk about that.
• 43:23
  Jim Kuzak: It's odd, Bill.
• 43:24
  I, uh, I hadn't seen that part of that video for some time.
• 43:29
  Um, so looking back at the back of that house, it's bringing it back.
• 43:36
  It was very surreal because, you know, when I took Cris, Cris was driving us that time, and you guys were following.
• 43:46
  We pull up outside the front of the house in the daylight,
• 43:49
  and it's literally about the same place I pulled up to.
• 43:54
  Uh, then we drove around to the back through the alley, and then that's where we got out.
• 44:00
  And it's, it's just like, wow, this is right where this happened.
• 44:05
  You know, I don't know, I mean, I, I've not had many life changing events.
• 44:09
  to this decree.
• 44:11
  So to be there was, um, I don't know if it was painful more than it
• 44:16
  was wow, just being at this point in my life that night changed it.
• 44:25
  And it wasn't my doing, it was somebody else's doing that literally
• 44:31
  caused my life to go in the direction that I would have never expected.
• 44:37
  Um, And then having you guys there, um, it's not like you were pushing me there.
• 44:45
  This wasn't scripted.
• 44:46
  This was, this was just like, yeah, you guys went back there with me the first time.
• 44:52
  I literally hadn't been on that street.
• 44:54
  I hadn't even thought about that house.
• 44:58
  So just to be there was, uh, it took me right back, but you just look for simple steps that you take every day
• 45:08
  that you walk every day that you, you don't even process in your mind that you're walking your body just does it.
• 45:15
  And I looked at that and I had no way to get up four steps and I'm still to that point to this day.
• 45:22
  Bill Erfurth: Yeah, it was, uh, it was definitely an emotional experience that we shared there.
• 45:26
  Now, we, uh, we also went with you to rehab and you had done some water rehab.
• 45:33
  Uh, you went to a specific facility where they.
• 45:36
  Put you on a treadmill, they buckled you in, uh, we're going to share that video and talk about that as well.
• 45:44
  Jim Kuzak: In
• 45:47
  my mind, I'm going to be walking again.
• 45:50
  I don't want to say I'm ever going to get there, but in my mind I'm getting there.
• 45:56
  Bill Erfurth: So are you still doing the rehab, I guess, and do you still have that same mindset?
• 46:03
  Jim Kuzak: Oh, the mindset's there.
• 46:05
  I pretty much look at my every day as there's so many things against me, but none of them are going to stop me.
• 46:12
  It's just the way it is.
• 46:13
  And I don't want to ever think about it any other way.
• 46:16
  I don't do the rehab per se that, you know, I go to a place
• 46:20
  and I do these things and I don't get to go on that machine.
• 46:23
  Um, most of my stuff now is just basically kind of related to my activities.
• 46:27
  You know, I work out.
• 46:28
  Uh, I get to do that at home, gym, sometimes.
• 46:32
  Uh, I have an attachment now that's basically half a bicycle.
• 46:36
  It attaches to the front of my wheelchair and I get to hand bike.
• 46:39
  So instead of pedaling with my feet, I pedal with my hands.
• 46:42
  And I go out to that and I'm Usually up around now, I, with time, I've done, you know, up to 18 to 23 miles at a time.
• 46:50
  And that gives me a lot of good workout.
• 46:52
  Uh, my shooting now, my shooting career is taking me everywhere.
• 46:58
  You know, I get to go to all these different places in different ranges
• 47:01
  and that's, you know, the movements and everything I used to do.
• 47:04
  I, I used to do it in a manual chair, which was kind of slow.
• 47:08
  But now I'm in a, a power chair that I, I have that, uh, I get to go a
• 47:12
  lot faster and shoot differently and, and be a little more competitive.
• 47:16
  So I get to do a lot of that.
• 47:17
  Will I walk in?
• 47:19
  Bill Erfurth: And that's a perfect segue because that was, uh, we wanted to kind of move this forward a bit in
• 47:25
  the interest of time, but also let's move forward to what you're doing today.
• 47:29
  And that is a big part of what you're doing today.
• 47:31
  And you, and you competitively shoot and are sponsored by the Glock shooting team.
• 47:36
  And we've got a video of you, a competitive video that you forwarded to us.
• 47:42
  And we're going to share that right now.
• 48:10
  So Jimmy, you're probably.
• 48:11
  You're probably a better shot than most cops right now, I would say.
• 48:15
  How is that?
• 48:16
  Jim Kuzak: Talk about it.
• 48:17
  A lot of friends that I shoot with now would say that to like, you know,
• 48:20
  in fact, a couple of the cops I know down here shoot with me as well.
• 48:23
  And they're like, you know what?
• 48:24
  You're, you're shooting a lot more when you get to shoot as much as I have now.
• 48:29
  And guys that are on the competitive circuit, you're, you're firing.
• 48:33
  I think last year I fired over 15, 000 rounds and I'm on the lower end.
• 48:38
  So yeah, I, I I've gotten much better.
• 48:40
  Let's just say that.
• 48:42
  Uh, but yeah, I was afforded the opportunity to be that brand
• 48:47
  ambassador and be a competitive shooter by the Glock brand.
• 48:50
  And I want to say it started with what you guys got me into Craig bill.
• 48:54
  When we were down, uh, that year for, uh, police week in 2013 and.
• 49:01
  One of the pictures I sent to you, Bill, was you, me, and two of the English bobbies were there, and we
• 49:06
  took a picture, and we were at that, I believe it was the National Museum, uh, building behind the memorial.
• 49:13
  Right.
• 49:13
  And that's the day that it's, I think it's Jack Dorsey from Glock gave the check.
• 49:20
  Yeah.
• 49:21
  Gave the check to the Unity Tour, or to you, Craig, for over two million dollars.
• 49:27
  Right.
• 49:27
  And I met, I met him that day, and I said to him, I said, What's it going
• 49:32
  to take for me to be a competitive shooter or a shooter for Glock?
• 49:36
  And he just kind of chuckled and laughed.
• 49:38
  And that was only back in 2013.
• 49:40
  So then, um, when I was contacted by Glock in late 2015, a lot of the work paid off.
• 49:51
  I guess meeting people and talking to people paid off and I was afforded this opportunity that I have been
• 49:56
  graciously and filled full of gratitude to accept and get myself out there and not only shoot for me, but to
• 50:05
  show other people in wheelchairs or other people with various disabilities that don't let anything stop you.
• 50:14
  You can do it again, or you can do something new that you wanted to do,
• 50:18
  and Glock Affording Me This Opportunity has done that for me and many others.
• 50:22
  Bill Erfurth: What I do want to ask you about, though, Jimmy,
• 50:25
  because we see it in the video, then you sent a still picture.
• 50:29
  You got these ruby red sneakers on, like from The Wizard of Oz or something.
• 50:34
  What the hell is that that you're wearing there?
• 50:36
  Where did those come from?
• 50:37
  Did you get sponsored
• 50:38
  Jim Kuzak: for those too?
• 50:40
  No.
• 50:40
  What that comes down to is friendship.
• 50:44
  And what I mean by friendship is you meet so many people when you're in any type of sports or activities like that.
• 50:52
  Well, the guys that I repetitively, and women I repetitively shoot with at my
• 50:57
  local range, the Hanson range, uh, they are the ones that brought me along.
• 51:03
  Yeah, I've shot since I was eight years old, but when you get
• 51:07
  into the competitive realm, you, you need to learn a lot more.
• 51:11
  And all these people, excuse me, helped me with that.
• 51:15
  And then I always joke to them, because in these sports, you have what they call fault lines on the ground.
• 51:21
  You can't step outside of them and shoot.
• 51:23
  If you do, it's a foot fault.
• 51:26
  So I always joke where my foot would be placed.
• 51:29
  In reference to my wheelchair and I said, well, you guys, you can't even give me a foot fault
• 51:34
  because you guys are wearing these Solomon shoes and you can see them.
• 51:38
  So I didn't know this.
• 51:40
  They heard that when I said it and they went out and bought me these red shoes, the brightest color you can imagine.
• 51:51
  And we were at a match at our range and they, I mean, we had a ton of people there.
• 51:55
  And I remember Sean, she comes over to me and hands me this bag and I'm like, what is this?
• 52:00
  And then all of a sudden I see everybody looking at me, I'm like, this isn't going to end well.
• 52:04
  And I pulled out the shoe box and I opened up and there they are, these bright red Solomon shoes.
• 52:09
  I said, well, now they're definitely going to try and give me foot fault because you can see my feet.
• 52:14
  So anytime I go and compete, I always wear those shoes.
• 52:18
  There you
• 52:18
  Bill Erfurth: go.
• 52:19
  Well, I knew there had to be a story to that.
• 52:20
  Yep.
• 52:21
  How about Craig, we wrap this up with the last question from you and let's talk about Jimmy's dogs.
• 52:27
  Dennis Collins: Yes.
• 52:27
  Craig Floyd: Very good.
• 52:28
  I will ask this because we've alluded to her, at least I have before.
• 52:33
  Um, this amazing, beautiful woman that's been by your side throughout this ordeal.
• 52:39
  Uh, Cris, your wife, um, tell me about Cris and, and how important
• 52:45
  has she been in terms of your recovery and in terms of your life?
• 52:51
  Wow, you guys really, um,
• 52:53
  Jim Kuzak: if you want me to get emotional, this is it.
• 52:55
  Um,
• 52:58
  it's been 15 years we've been together.
• 53:01
  The first year that we were together, I obviously wasn't in a wheelchair.
• 53:06
  We had been together one year when this happened.
• 53:09
  And when you're in the hospital, you know, I'm getting one thing from the medical professionals and Cris is
• 53:15
  getting another from the people trying to make you understand what's going on.
• 53:19
  And they told her, look, um,
• 53:24
  boyfriends and girlfriends don't usually stay.
• 53:27
  Fiances, at the time, she was just my girlfriend.
• 53:30
  Fiances, maybe 50 percent of the time, you'd be lucky if they stay.
• 53:34
  And marriages die because of this a lot of the times.
• 53:39
  So she's not giving good odds.
• 53:41
  And I remember one day when it was just us in the room, and I told her, I said, Look, you didn't sign up for this.
• 53:48
  I understand if you need to go.
• 53:52
  And I said, I don't feel bad.
• 53:55
  My family won't feel bad.
• 53:57
  She never left.
• 53:59
  She never alluded to leaving.
• 54:01
  She never showed me any reason and she never did.
• 54:07
  Um, that's something that I'll never let go of.
• 54:12
  So Cris is on the good side of this.
• 54:14
  She is amazing.
• 54:16
  She has dealt with everything that comes along with now being the partner of a paraplegic man.
• 54:22
  Um, your legs don't work, your, Bowel and bladder program is
• 54:28
  something you have to monitor and do yourself repetitively every day.
• 54:32
  You don't do it like you used to.
• 54:35
  All the medical stuff that comes along with that, all the doctor's appointments that she's had me go to and go with me.
• 54:41
  She knows more about me and my body and what I have to do and take than I do.
• 54:46
  So that's just that part of us being in a relationship.
• 54:49
  Now, the fun that she brings to everything is, is that we interact
• 54:54
  greatly as we find something humorous in everything we do.
• 54:58
  And now, at this point in life, we have four dogs.
• 55:01
  Not four small dogs, four large dogs.
• 55:03
  We have three German Shepherds and a Doberman.
• 55:06
  Uh, and they have been so much fun.
• 55:10
  Not always fun on the good aspect, because they're dogs and you have to train them, but we've had some
• 55:15
  medical issues with them too, and when they're Basically your children, you, uh, you, you treat them as such.
• 55:22
  Cris has been on multiple occasions with different dogs.
• 55:26
  She's been part of multiple search and rescue teams where she has had, uh, our
• 55:32
  dog is trained in HRD, which is human remains detection or a cadaver dog.
• 55:37
  And she's been on many searches where they've been, uh, missing persons.
• 55:41
  They've been, uh, homicide cases with two of our dogs.
• 55:45
  We still have one.
• 55:46
  She's in her later stages of life.
• 55:47
  She's 11.
• 55:48
  She's retired.
• 55:49
  She, unfortunately right now is also paralyzed like me.
• 55:52
  She can't use her rear legs.
• 55:54
  So Cris every day lifts her up.
• 56:00
  Lifts her up every day like she helped me and keeps this dog
• 56:03
  in a happy life by taking her outside multiple times to go pee.
• 56:08
  Um, we get her in the pool.
• 56:10
  We have a pool that the dogs use more than us.
• 56:13
  So we're out there usually every good day letting them swim, jump in and out.
• 56:17
  And, uh, that's what we do.
• 56:19
  And that's mostly the other part of our life.
• 56:22
  Cris gets to let me, she lets me enjoy.
• 56:25
  What I say is, she just knows what I enjoy, and she's like, go do it.
• 56:29
  So that's the shooting part of it.
• 56:31
  And then with her and the dogs, man, she handles all of it.
• 56:35
  And she is, uh, she is who is supposed to be in my life.
• 56:40
  And, uh, she is.
• 56:41
  Craig Floyd: A great love story.
• 56:43
  Both you and Cris, especially you and Cris, but also Yes.
• 56:47
  You and Cris, and the dogs.
• 56:48
  And the dogs, yeah.
• 56:49
  And I've loved every minute of it.
• 56:51
  La last question I have, I, I, I sure I need to hear the answer.
• 56:55
  You, um, have been paralyzed, uh, through a shooting incident because
• 57:00
  you were a police officer putting your life on the line every day.
• 57:04
  Uh, for the safety and welfare of your community, um, and it's cost you a lot.
• 57:09
  Uh, do you have any regrets, uh, that you became a police officer, uh, and served for 18 years?
• 57:16
  No.
• 57:17
  Never once.
• 57:18
  Jim Kuzak: Never once.
• 57:19
  Uh, I, I talk to police officers now a lot, uh, I've gotten some friends still in law enforcement
• 57:25
  and I tell them, I don't know that I could be involved in it today.
• 57:29
  I guess I'm just already that far removed.
• 57:32
  You know, I was, my generation, I'd already had, when I was medically retired, I had 20 years on the job.
• 57:37
  So, uh, even the guys that trained me, we're all retired.
• 57:41
  Uh, so then now I become the person who's training other officers.
• 57:46
  Uh, and now I see today what's going on with.
• 57:49
  Like why you created Citizens Behind The Badge, this defund, this, the police officers are no good.
• 57:56
  And I just, no, I can't stand for that.
• 57:59
  You know, if it wasn't for the police officers, who would you call?
• 58:03
  Where would you be?
• 58:04
  Um, how would your family survive?
• 58:07
  I think a lot of people forget that we are the last.
• 58:12
  standing line between you and crime and you and um, injury to your family.
• 58:18
  How many police officers do we see now that are involved in shootings daily?
• 58:23
  Daily they're involved in shootings.
• 58:25
  Uh, I remember it was hard to understand that when I was a police officer that we had this many shootings.
• 58:32
  I know that I've attended too many police funerals.
• 58:35
  Uh, I don't want to go to any more, but unfortunately that's the error of what it is that we're getting it back.
• 58:44
  I know with efforts that you've done and Bill and everybody on this board, uh, have created.
• 58:50
  And I see a lot of what people are finally fed up.
• 58:55
  And you can see that by where our political realm has gone.
• 58:58
  They're fed up and police officers are getting back to doing the job
• 59:02
  that they're required to do, and now they're being let alone to do it again.
• 59:08
  Bill Erfurth: So, Jimmy, Jimmy, you da man, baby, you da man, I'll tell you what, you are, and this is what
• 59:15
  I'm gonna leave this with, people need to know, you are a, you're an incredible fucking guy, incredible in
• 59:22
  so many ways, I mean, the strife and everything that you've gone through, people need to know, you are, and
• 59:27
  I've said this to so many people, it is astonishing, the Absolute positive attitude that you always have.
• 59:36
  You're always upbeat.
• 59:37
  You're always happy.
• 59:39
  And you're an incredible fucking guy.
• 59:42
  Jim Kuzak: Well, I appreciate that, Bill.
• 59:43
  I appreciate that coming from you.
• 59:45
  I have valued our friendship over the years.
• 59:48
  Uh, usually when you and I talk, it's never serious.
• 59:51
  It's usually comedic in nature, and that's what I enjoy.
• 59:55
  He
• 59:55
  Dennis Collins: brings that, he brings that out.
• 59:58
  He brings out that comedic, uh, but he was a pretty good boy today.
• 1:00:01
  He, okay, he watched himself.
• 1:00:04
  So I didn't have to, I didn't have to step in with my Buzzer.
• 1:00:07
  So I can't tell you how much we appreciate your courage to tell your story.
• 1:00:14
  I know that has to be brings back some not so good memories.
• 1:00:17
  But you know what?
• 1:00:19
  Your story is an inspiration to every one of us because you are the embodiment.
• 1:00:25
  It's not what happens to you in life.
• 1:00:28
  It's how you respond to it, how you respond to it.
• 1:00:32
  You are the image Um, a perfect response and I know it's not perfect for you every day.
• 1:00:40
  It's perfect in that you don't give up.
• 1:00:42
  I like something you said during this interview.
• 1:00:47
  So many things against me, but nothing is going to stop me.
• 1:00:53
  Don't let anything stop you.
• 1:00:56
  That's the message that Kuzak, a true hero Behind The Badge.
• 1:01:04
  I appreciate the kind words.
• 1:01:05
  Thank you.
• 1:01:06
  Well, we appreciate you and thank you for telling the story.
• 1:01:10
  That is, that is this edition of heroes Behind The Badge, real
• 1:01:18
  stories, real cops, and the real truth, and you got the real truth.
• 1:01:22
  From Jimmy Kuzak today.
• 1:01:24
  If you'd like to know more about Citizens Behind The Badge,
• 1:01:28
  CitizensBehindTheBadge.org, CitizensBehindTheBadge.org.
• 1:01:33
  Join the hundreds of thousands of people who are already lending their support to the men and women of law enforcement.
• 1:01:41
  We'll be back soon with another edition of Heroes Behind The Badge.