Latest / Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement / #005- “I was shot in the neck”

Transcript

#005- “I was shot in the neck” · Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: First shot hit me right underneath the chin and it came out my neck.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: We don't get into this career to get shot.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: But you never know what's gonna happen.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I will tell you what helps.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: This letting people know about your story.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_04: Welcome back, listeners and watchers out there or viewers on YouTube.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_04: We're back with uh yeah Blue Grip Podcast.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_04: We've got two special guests.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_04: Uh special.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_04: Special.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, absolutely VIP.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_04: VIP.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_04: Clayton want to introduce him?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: We got Mike Gomez, TMPA Field Services Supervisor.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_03: He's been here 16 years.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: 17.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_04: 17 years.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Lost count.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_04: Are you an official chef yet?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_04: Has it been like notar like has it been recognized?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: I get called that a lot, but I don't claim I know better to claim it than to expect too much.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: And we have Joey Supplita.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: It's Sepulveda.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_03: If you're Cajun, it's Supple Supplevida.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_03: Joey Sepovida.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um he's got an incredible story.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we're excited to share with you guys and fortunate to have him.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_03: He served on the board, and we're fortunate to have him now uh in field services working as a fielder up uh and a part of this part of this family that we have.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_04: It's been a pleasure having you on, dude.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_04: You just hit your first year, Mark, right?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, as a matter of fact, uh November 1st uh was my uh my year, so I passed probation.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, yeah, yeah.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_04: Mike Mike wants to sign in.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_03: I can feel it.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_03: I can feel it.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_03: No more DREs to complete.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_04: So this is a very, very uh just uh not a unique story.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_04: Uh you really had a brush with death.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and and and I know the day that it happened, uh it it took it took us all by surprise, and it was just like, man, and you you never think it's gonna be you, but then you never think it's gonna be one of your colleagues.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_04: And you serving on the board, you were a full-time cop working at Baconus Heights, and you know, this is about that incident and how you overcame it, uh, what what the response was from this organization, but just uh just overall kind of what what all happened that day and and what you what led up to that.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_04: So you want to kind of kick off where you grew up, how you got into law enforcement, really how you got involved with TNPA, and then we'll just kind of flow into uh to that day.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_04: Flow.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_04: Flow.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, real quick.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, I uh was born and uh raised in San Antonio.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you were born first.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: I was born first.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: All right, just and then I was raised in San Antonio.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_04: Is it is it is it San Anton or San Antonio?
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it all depends on which side of town, because it's either San Antonio or San Anto or just San Antonio.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um so it all depends on where you're raised there.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um again, uh was raised in the pretty much in the south side of San Antonio.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um went to uh Catholic school all my life, pretty much.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um middle school, high school, uh graduated from Holy Cross High School, uh State Champs, class of 91.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: And um uh yeah, growing up, I've always wanted to be.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: I actually I wanted to be a fighter pilot.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Back in the day, I guess there was so many uh criteria that I didn't meet.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh none.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: So uh so I decided uh my second was to uh uh be a police officer.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um so uh graduating high school, I went uh a couple of years to college and then um decided to get into the police academy.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: So uh after uh after graduating from the police academy, I was hired with uh Chavanal Park.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's a small little municipality uh north of uh San Antonio.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: How old were you when you got out of the academy?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: Let's see, uh 91 and I became a police officer in '93.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: So probably about maybe about twenty four-five, maybe, I think.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um I spent there, I started uh, of course, patrol.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: My second year uh into uh law enforcement.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was kind of sort of uh recruited by a uh ants, which was Alamoy Air Narcotic Task Force, and um went into uh narcotics.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: Spent about six years, six and a half years there.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um had a critical incident then.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: I was involved in a shooting.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um you were a TFO?
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no, no.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: That was uh that was a state.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um so basically it was uh uh under the governor's office uh back in the day.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, I was just trying to get a punt, a jab at Clint from TFO.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_04: But if it's cool, we that that's for a whole separate netherite.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Oh no, no, well, I'll I'll tell you a little bit more about it.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, all right, go ahead.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: So then um um after my incident, um the chief called me back, so I stayed on patrol for a little bit, and then I went and uh spent a couple of years um working Edgewood ISD and um lasted there for about two and a half, maybe three years.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Then I got hired with Balcone Heights.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Then uh from Balcone Heights Um I was hired, was on the streets on patrol, and then a couple of years after that, I started the first canine unit uh there in Balcone Heights.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: So um while I was uh canine unit, I uh worked uh very closely with a whole bunch of uh narcotic units, Bear County, San Antonio, and I started working uh real closely with DEA.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: So um I guess it wasn't me, it was my dog who uh got me a chance to be uh uh a TFO.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, there it is, TFO.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I was a waiting punchline, thank you.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_03: So Mellon Wall or Shepard?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I started off well I started off uh the canine unit with a golden lab.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: And uh her name was Nella, and uh she literally put me on the map w in uh in Albert County.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um every the only thing I was was uh pretty much a driver and the person who hold down the lead because uh she did everything.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um they even told me that uh hey, if she had thumbs, she really didn't need you.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: If they could teach her to drive the squad car.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: If they could teach her a squad car, yeah, absolutely.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um so uh so got me into DEA as a as a TFO, um was there for six and a half years.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um during uh my time at uh DEA um I went from a lab to a Czech Shepherd.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: I also worked a Belgian Mal as a uh on the patrol side.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I had Nella, which was a lab as a narcotics, and then uh a mal, which was patrol.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's the way back in the day it was a separate kind of a thing.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Once they both retired, um, I was allowed to get another dog, and it was a dual-purpose dog, which uh it was a Czech Shepherd.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: So it was named Bender's aka crazy.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's very crazy.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_03: I've heard dog, I've heard dogs take after the handler.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, oh absolutely.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Look like them too.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no, actually he's photogenic.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: So um, so I spent uh six and a half years with DEA.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, man, I traveled just about everywhere in the state of Texas with uh with the task force.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um and um we had uh they uh called me back to my department.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I was on patrol with my dog for probably about a year, and it was uh time to start moving up and promoting.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I went and I got promoted to uh detective or investigator um there in my department, spent uh two or three years doing that, and then um I prom got promoted to uh sergeant, patrol sergeant.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I was a patrol sergeant, went from nights to mids, then to morning, and then uh on February the 3rd, 2021, come to find out later on that it was my 18th anniversary with my department.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: On that day, it was not gloomy, it wasn't you know thundering and all this other stuff.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: It was a nice sunny day.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: It was about 120, almost 1.30.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: My shift ended up at 2 o'clock.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll back up a little bit on that.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Is um that was during COVID.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: So most of my uh my shift was out because of COVID, people getting sick, people not feeling right.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I had asked one of the mid shift uh guys, who's a brand new officer, I said, Hey, would uh would you like to uh help me uh on my shift and cover my shift?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: His days off started off Thursdays and Fridays.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I said, Hey, you know what?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: You come in, you work early, get off at two, and you start your RDs early.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: Man, young kid, sorry, I got you, man.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about it, I'll be here.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome, got my ship covered.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: 1 30, get a call.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um suspicious, suspicious vehicles, suspicious people at an apartment complex.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: One of our known troublesome apartment complexes there in uh Balcony Heights.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I was like, you know what?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: I got it.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna wait.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna have this kid.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: He helped me out.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go and go to the call.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I take off.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: While I'm uh while I'm going to the call, um, dispatch gets on the radio and gets bumped up from a suspicious vehicle, suspicious person call to possible burglars in action.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: And a suspect vehicle is described to be a Ford, a white-colored Ford Dooley.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, white-colored Ford Dooley.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: We had prior information that uh this white duoley had been burglarizing vehicles before.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh of course the occupants.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I stepped it up, I turned on my lights, broke through a light, and I'm hauling us.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_03: Am I allowed to uh you can say hauling.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: So uh so I'm getting there, code three.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um my partner who gets stuck at the light because of traffic, um stays behind about, I say at least about it, probably about 30, 40 seconds behind me.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I get there, I tell the dispatcher, hey, I'm entering this location, I'm entering this this uh entryway, I'm coming up to the back rear parking lot, and I see the suspect vehicle.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: So um it's kind of weird and a lot goes along with the story.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: But so I park my vehicle, and for some reason, the vehicle that when I where I parked, your dash cam is supposed to be pointing straight forward.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, for some reason, somehow, I do not remember, but the camera is canted to where it's catching everything of the suspect vehicle.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I approach, uh, I approach the vehicle on the driver's side.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_03: And your mindset at this point is probably car burglars.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm about to interact with car burglars.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: So when I approach the vehicle, I see the driver and I see a passenger in the rear view.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean in the rear seat, right behind the driver.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: So um I get there, and of course, now a little history about me is I'm a farms instructor, I'm the department's tactical instructor.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm trying to do this as best and as tactical as I possibly can.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I get there, I tell the guys, all right, guys, let me see your hands.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: They both comply, they both stick their hands out of the window.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, okay, I see where their hands are at, know what's going on.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: While I approach the driver, he starts rolling up the window and kind of trying to get the vehicle started, get the truck moving.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: And um I start, of course, giving some verbal commands.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now, mind you, when I'm approaching, I notice a whole bunch of people out in the parking lot.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: I remember uh I remember very clearly that I see uh uh a husband, I see a wife, and I see them with a hamper full of clothes, doing laundry, and I've not m if I'm not mistaken, the mom was pushing a stroller.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, okay, I've got civilians out here.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: So once he once the driver starts making uh evasive movements, and um I take out my taser.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now I will tell you the old Joey back in the day, the taser wouldn't come out.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: It would have been your my gun.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: But you know how the things that we have to go through in and law enforcement nowadays is okay, if I take out my weapon now, here comes the cameras.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the progression.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: The progression, here goes, you know, oh look at look at the look at the cop being uh aggressive with you know showing off his gun.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: So, anyways, I approach the driver with my taser and he starts making uh movements to uh try to get away.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I tell the driver, don't do it, don't do it.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I lose focus on the subject in the back in the back seat.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: I get tunnel vision and focus on the driver.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: Are you at the rear of the vehicle or are you at the end of the room?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm at the driver.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, yeah.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: So when I approach, I'm approaching in an angle from the from the rear and going up to the driver.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_04: But you're at the driver window right now.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm at the driver window.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a dually.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I get up on the I guess on the step, the sidestep, and I start kind of uh getting into a physical altercation with the driver.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: He's backing up because I'm showing him the taser.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, he's got a little red dot on him.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um he knows he what's about to happen.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: I lose focus on the on the rear uh passenger.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so all I see is his hands come up.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: As I see his hands come up, I take a real quick glance over, and it's a barrel, and all I hear is a pop.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: And uh first shot hit me right underneath the chin and it came out, hit my neck.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: So at that point in time, the first thing that came out of my or that came to my head was like, this SOB just shot me.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm backing up, I throw my taser, I don't even holster it, I throw it on the ground, I'm reaching for my gun, and I can't tell you how many pops I heard, but I heard pops.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_03: And uh he's still in the back left seat.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, firing out the window.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: He's firing out the window.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: So from later on finding out, I take a shot and it hits my trauma vest.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: So it spins me in an angle because he double taps, and the second one goes through my shoulder, comes out my back.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: So at that time, I'm like, this guy's not even giving me a chance.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I start retreating.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: I head back, I look, I'm looking, I'm looking, man, where's the cover?
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a tree.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: How about that big?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: And um have you ever seen the movie uh uh Mall cop?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah Paul Bart when he's trying to slide through.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that was me, except I didn't make it.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm squirling back into cover.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: So while I'm at cover, um I see the rear seat subject, suspect coming out, and he extends out the window and shot, shoots one final shot, and the only thing I could do is cover my face, and that's where the fourth one hit me.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now, according to the report, they he they say that he shot over over seven times, um, possibly with two two calibers, a 40 and a nine millimeter.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um I remember when I was shot, I can hear my partner coming.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And the one thing that I didn't want to do, because I was probably going, I wanted to engage from where I was sitting down.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: The only thing that came to my mind is I don't know where my partner is.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: And all of I I would hate to go and get into a crossfire with him, and me ending up, you know, hurting him.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and you had civilians out there, and I had civilians out there.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, people ask me all the time, man, all of that just happened in a like that.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_03: So the first couple of shots, he's in the back of the vehicle shooting out the window, and you said the last shot he had exited the vehicle and no, he extended outside of the window.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that I can see very, very clearly.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: So um, coming to find out, well, not coming to find out, but my partner at the time, he was uh he had prior paramedic experience.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: He was a EMT paramedic um before he uh joined the force with us.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: And let me tell you, this kid was on the streets for 18 months.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: 18 months.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: This kid has seen drive-by shootings, a female uh young lady get killed by a drive-by.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um he arrested some guy who uh shot his neighbor at another apartment complex.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: In 18 months, this kid seen more than probably most of our members out there that have been here for 20 plus years.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um he didn't hesitate.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: He grabbed me.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: He grabbed he got me by the collar on my vest and uh pulled me out.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: Pulled me towards, or at least tried to.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: This kid pulled me so hard that he pulled the vest completely off of me.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now I was told whether it's true or not that um if he hadn't pulled my vest out, I wasn't gonna be able.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: So he starts screaming out for help.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Two civilians come in.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh one of them was a maintenance man.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the other guy was a resident there.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: So they literally picked me up, carried me like a Superman to uh my patrol unit.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: And um they carried me there and were trying to shove me into the back seat.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: And um, as you can see, I'm not a small kind of a guy.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: It was like shoving a football.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, somewhere where they're not supposed to.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: So the and if people know who I am, I got to the point where my uh my attitude came out, and I was like, let me the phone down so I can get in the seat by myself.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_03: Before y'all kill me.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, basically.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: So sure enough, they put me in the patrol car, and uh uh my partner just he drove me, drove me to the to the hospital.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_04: And at this point, the suspect vehicles and fled the scene.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: He had already had fled the scene.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um my partner was able to uh take uh one shot and apparently come to find out uh that shot went through the rear window and hit the driver on the shoulder.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, he fled the scene.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm getting uh transported to the nearest hospital, which was like less than a mile away.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: I get to the hospital, and from my recollection recollection, um I thought that all I remember is this big huge nurse, and I'm thinking, man.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: I thought he carried me in.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: Come to find out later on, we became very good friends and we stay stay in contact.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: He says, Joey, you walked your butt in by yourself.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Whoa.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: He says, all you were doing was you're holding your neck.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, really?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: Goes, yeah.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: So they put me in a room.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, they start, you know, doing and and uh working on me.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: I had, if I'm not mistaken, a total of nine people working on me at one time.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: So on the wall, and they have, you know, those little lights and the suction cups and uh the suction and all that.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the nurse tells me, I grabbed the I grab the suction and I'm trying to suck the blood off of me.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, wait a minute, this thing's not working.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: I said, can you turn this shit on?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: So they turned it on, and I I actually became another hand and uh was it we're helping out.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_04: So um, so after that, um And at this point you were shot how many how many times at the hospital?
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um honestly to tell you too, Tyler, I do not remember.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: At that point in time, all I remember is I was getting I got shot here.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't even think about my arm, and I didn't even know about my shoulder.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: My shoulder.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I really didn't.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm thinking, okay, this is this is the only one.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: This is the one I gotta worry about.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: So while I'm sitting there, um, I see my partner.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: My partner's kind of like in the doorway, and um, I could see him in shock.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: And that was one of the things that I got enough voice and enough courage to say, get him out of here.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want him to see if this is gonna be my my time, I don't want him to remember me like this.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: So they finally took him, some other other people took him and they took him to uh to triage and had him checked out, and they made him also do the whole nine yards, get off the vest and the whole and to make sure that he wasn't shot without him knowing.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_03: Him see seeing how seriously concerned he was about you, did that cause you to realize maybe I'm more soft than I'm realizing?
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: No, honestly, I didn't that never even came to my to my head.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: I the first a lot of things that came to my mind was home, work.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: This is gonna be a long ass report.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um the last person that we had on was involved in a horrific shooting and said in the middle of the gunfight, they remember thinking, I went on a concern for welfare, now I'm in a gunfight.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_03: How the hell do I write this up?
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's honestly, honestly.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, how how am I gonna how am I gonna do this?
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: How am I gonna get Dear Chief?
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: No one was more surprised.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, wait, and the interesting fact is is he just kind of brought up a good point.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_04: Like, you know, that you you said you you the old Joey would have went straight to your gun.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_04: Because at that point, you can't see his hands, he's using a he's using a vehicle to you know leave.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_03: You don't know that you're they're more than likely criminals because you have prior information.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, absolutely.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_04: Well, and it's it's the Ferguson effect of what we dealt with soon after the incident in Ferguson, but but the the prior guest, uh Curly, I mean it was a even him thinking that because you're trying to justify in your mind of all the stuff you're going through, because we're you know, police are scrutinized and we're kind of called to the carpet a lot of times, and this is that's prior to that.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_04: That's back in 2002.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_04: So anyway.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: No, and you're absolutely right.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, the thing about it is also being a supervisor is you know, you're you're always constantly trying to teach these young officers that, you know, hey, you know, the whole community policing, the, you know, customer service, kind of be nice, cordial, you know, you can't do this, you can't do that, you know.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then for you as a supervisor to go and do the opposite of what you actually are, you know, are teaching.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so uh, anyways, so I'm there at the hospital, and uh, and uh all I remember is of course one of the nurses says, um, oh, the doctor tells one of the nurses, cut his belt.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I swear to you, I I remember this, and I'm like, don't cut my belt.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's expensive.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: That comes from my pocket.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: Wait a minute.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I stand up, I take off my own belt, my keepers, everything, and I hand over my uh gun belt to one of the nurses.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember the I remember the doctor saying, Okay, Sarge, we're gonna give you something to knock you out.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Well, hurry the up.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm out.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_03: Is your arm, because you were shot good in your arm, was your arm still operating?
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_03: Were you still able to use it?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, um when uh when my partner approached me, um, I still had my gun.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I it was death grip.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: You could not get that thing off of me.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: And he even told me, goes, put your gun away, put it away.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I actually was able to holster my own weapon, put it on lock, and uh and go for it.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_03: It's amazing with the damage that you took, yeah, that it still functions.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I have some I have some some video and that I uh will tell everybody, hey, this is my uh these are my my uh party fate pics to show at that parties.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: So this was actually a full hole, and every time I move my fingers, you can see each tenant moving the fingers.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: But still fully functioning.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: But fully functioning.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: Fully functioning.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_03: Did you and your partner at the scene did he make the determination on his own to load and go?
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_04: And he's 18 months in.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_04: 18 months in.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: And and that's what I give, I mean, honestly, I I give him so much credit for for me be being here because he didn't hesitate.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I know he was scared.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: I I I know that you know a lot of things were probably going in it to through his through his head.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: But for him to make that decision and say, no, I'm not gonna wait for for EMS.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: So he's still on the job today?
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yes, sir.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, sir.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_03: Do you mind a shout-out from you?
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh no.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: Edgar Ortiz, we call him baby O.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, brother.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh love you, man.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm always I'm always thinking about you.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: And we still stay in touch.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: Good.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_04: You've been shot four times, four times.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_04: They knock you out of the hospital.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_04: And then from there they transport you.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_04: What to uh to what hospital?
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: So um I went to Texan Heart Hospital, which is not a trauma one hospital.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: So basically what they did is they just tried to stop the bleeding.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: They wrapped me, uh uh, what do you call that?
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: In uh intubate.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: Intubate.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um as a matter of fact, when they were moving me from one gurney to the stretcher, um, they that's when they noticed the shoulder, the shoulder wound.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, yep, we got another hole.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna we gotta stop him before he goes out.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I had already gone through like five, six pints of blood at that time.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so of course, um I uh I get there, I get to uh they transport me.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: Now um while I'm in what we call the box, the ambulance on en route, I woke up twice.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, this is one thing about this career and uh the brotherhood that we have.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: I find out later that there was like literally 50 to 60 law enforcement officers on scene, and I'm talking everything from city, county, ISD, constables, um, federal, my US my U.S.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: Marshal buddy, Jesus Mejia.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: I love that kid to death.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he's another one that was there for me, my family.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um everybody was out there.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we may not all get along, but when you hurt one of us, Yep, mess with one family member, you mess with everyone.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's exactly right.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: All right, and uh, and and I do I believe that.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: I really do believe that.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um so, anyways, um I wake up and uh they tell me I you were still in the fight.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: You were grabbing, you were pulling, you were punching, and we had to knock you out again.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: So by the time I got to uh Bamsey, um I think that's when by that time, I think phone calls were made and uh they got a hold of Mike.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my significant other at the time.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: At the time, she's still my significant other.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um referring to my own.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_03: They got a hold of Mike, my significant other.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: She's uh she actually I had told her if anything were to happen to me, whether it uh I'm right, wrong, or or whatever, call Mike.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um don't call anybody else, call Mike.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I think uh I think Mike was uh Mike was coming home from somewhere and he had he head down and he was he was right there.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_04: So Anna called you, Mike, and told you what happened?
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I just uh you know Jenny and I we just uh come back from Brownsville.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: So we had a good six hour drive.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: We just gotten home, uh actually upstairs unpacking, and Anna never calls me.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: If she needs something or she wants to tell me off, she texts me.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and so when the the I saw her the caller ID, I said, Well, this ain't good.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so sure enough, I just had a feeling I answered the phone and she's screaming, yelling, and it was F and Joey got shot.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: She was mad at him for getting shot.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh she was pissed off.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm trying to get information out of her, but she has nothing.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I know the uh department tried to send vehicles for her.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: She's like, no, I'll get there faster than them coming to get me.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because she was a good hour away.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so I look up at Jenny and I said, uh I and I don't know, it's just because of years of law enforcement experience.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: I just say, hey, Joey got shot, I gotta go.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: And she's just like, you know, she's freaked out, she's screaming.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: She, what?
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: I go, yeah, Joey got shot, I gotta go.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what time I'll be back.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh can you pack me a go bag real quick?
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because we had just gotten back, so everything was, you know, not ready to go.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, Well, I'm coming with you.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: I go, You sure she wants to go this way?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know when I'll come back.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going with you, I'm going with you.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: So we don't grab anything, you know, uh went downstairs, got in the truck, and you know, she'd always talked about wanting to go on a on a ride along, and not after this drive.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think she had enough of that drive because she was pretty tense.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: And we're coming from North Austin, all the way down 35 because there was no other way to go, straight to Bamsey.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh of course when we get there, Bamsey is what military.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_04: Is that the military?
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_04: What military base is that?
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well, actually, it's not, it's not uh, yeah, it's it's uh it's an army base uh uh hospital, but it's not I don't even think it's it's actually on an army base, is it?
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's just it's just it's the property, it's just government property.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so you know that was the frustrating part because on was already there, we're there, but we can't get in.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: It won't let anybody in.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: COVID unless you're in a police car.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: So after some creative thinking, there was enough black and whites going in and out.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: So we jumped in the backseat of one of them and uh we got in.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: And at this time, uh President or now President uh Joe Tovar had also arrived.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: So we went in and um was the one we were the only ones who would come in, could come in to see Joey.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know, to see him the way he was, you know, was was a shock at first, but I still got some good pictures, took advantage of the moment.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he lives through this, and we're gonna we're gonna laugh about it someday.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I've got those pictures on reserve for that perfect day.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um but you know, it was it was it was a traumatic in a way that, you know, I've I've been on scenes before where officers have been shot, but they weren't friends, they weren't they weren't buddies of any sort, they weren't people I just hung out with the week before.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it was totally different.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, most of you know I drive a three-quarter ton truck.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they govern out at about 90 miles an hour.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: That was the more frustrating part.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: I hated my truck after that.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um But you know, we got there safe and and then we had a little hookup getting in.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: The ones where we're in, all the other officers managed to get in also, one way or another.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: And there he had plenty of support.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if he knew it, but outside that hospital, there's plenty of people there.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're looking at the news, there was hundreds of agencies or officers, probably twenty agencies, and they were cancelling everywhere.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know, it took him a couple of days to find the first suspect because uh he actually crossed the border and went to seek medical attention from his wound, and that's where they picked him up at.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, we just you know, all you could do now is just be there for Anna.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's all you can do.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, she of course she had media wanted to talk to her.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: They were asking the mayor for a statement, they were asking the chief for a statement.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um the good thing about all that stuff is they were reverting everything over to me because Anna says they talk to Mike and nobody else.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: If we're gonna give a statement, Mike's gonna give it.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: And we weren't ready to say anything, so they just had to wait.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so they focused more on the suspects and and the manhunt.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_04: It wasn't Joey's recovery.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_04: That's what's fascinating, is you just you just kind of hit hit a great point.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, they hadn't hung out with Joey, or you or are you you've been to multiple shootings as as Clint and I have.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, we all have now as field reps.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but the reality is is that even you even though you know you you knew Joey, you do this for all the members really in our region.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_04: When when when an officer down call goes out, and I'll say this, uh, we really don't give a damn what their membership looks like with us.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we could just go ahead and start heading that way anyway, because it's the right thing to do.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_04: Um But I mean, I think you know, you and Joey are really tight.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_04: And for Anna to call you and say, hey, here's the situation, I think the comfort of knowing that you were coming, uh, and and Anna has expressed that before, just really how how much it meant, and for you to be standing there with with you guys.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_04: Because I think DPS actually escorted because because where Anna works at uh and her involvement with DPS, they were able to provide you know the escort, and they thought I believe DPS thought it was a trooper that might have been shot.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and uh on my uh on my uh I don't know what you call the there's a name for the paperwork when you uh face sheet or yeah, the face sheet, there you go.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um it had a an alias name, of course, and uh it put their trooper, state trooper.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I just got promoted, guys.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: Super, super trooper trooper, super trooper.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but yeah, and um there was uh there were several of troopers that were uh that actually escorted the the stretcher in um while they were bringing me into uh to the hospital.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: So uh, you know, big shout out to those guys out there.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know they were they were there for for for everybody and and and you know at that point in time, like I like I said earlier, it's uh we don't care what patch or what uniform or what agency you're from, it's we're all one family.
• 38:54
  unknown: Yeah.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_03: And I I want to address one raging rumor really quick, just the elephant in the room.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_03: Mikey said that when you needed blood and had run out, you were demanding bloody Mary, not blood, but you were wanting Tito's bloody Mary.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_03: And I Mike said it, I didn't know if it's true, but I wanted to get it from you.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: If that was let me tell you, Clint, I'll tell you what, man.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: If I honestly, if I could, I would be asking for an old-fashioned or something, man, because uh, you know, it's just uh, you know, we what you go through, you honestly, at least I could say from my end, is I didn't care too much about what happened to me.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: I was, you know, hey, it was everybody else.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: I was worried about my partner.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's worried about my job, it's worried about, okay, who's gonna take care of the household?
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know I would have helped you there apart.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, it's uh, you know, and and uh of course, waking up a day and a half later um from an induced coma, um you wake up and I didn't know where I was at, of course, and I start wanting to pull things off or whatever.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and when I finally got okay and everybody came in and everybody saw me, and I was oh I was okay.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um just the support that I had on my phone, I had over 1,300 texts.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: And let me tell you how far that support stretched out.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I had officers that I had met at conferences, training, whatever.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: And hey brother, I met you at some conference out in so-and-so, and uh we met one time and I heard what happened and prayers, and you know, blah, blah, blah.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: If you need anything, you that that that person could be standing right in front of me, and I wouldn't know who he was.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_03: But you probably don't understand the network that you reached.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_03: You were on a state task force, you were on the DEA task force, your canine network that you established, working narcotics.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um the dope, the folks that work dope are pretty tight.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_03: And you said you worked across states, so you probably didn't consciously consciously realize the effect you had on other folks, and you do it here, you do it with our members, but the network that you established, you just got proof of it and got shown it on your phone that's about 1,300 text.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_03: That's freaking awesome.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_03: So we've had we've had some other guests on that have been in shootings and they've talked about and and and we visit about do you recall every moment of your shooting?
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_03: Are there some scenes from the reel that you don't recall?
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um and was did you realize throughout the gunfight that you were pretty good?
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_03: You thought you were only shot here, or were there times where you thought, I'm I'm I'm low sick, this is this is really bad, or did you feel like you were pretty good through most of it?
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_01: No, I felt pretty good.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um your your body does amazing things, and you don't realize it until something like this happens.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um and as for knowing and remembering every little thing, I don't.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I don't remember getting shot on my trauma vest.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I viewed the video before, and um, as a matter of fact, uh Anna reviewed the video with me.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, I didn't know that.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and she stood right there, and she's the one that caught and she goes, Every time you got hit, you grew you you groan, you you you made a noise.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, really?
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_01: Played it back, sure enough, every time I was getting hit, mm-mm, mmm.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's all you would hear.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_01: You do the same thing when I tickle you.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's that's that's um, but um, and you don't realize that.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_01: No, you don't, you know, and then you know, there's a couple of scenes where or a couple of I I have screenshots.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like when the first shot came, I literally saw the bullet.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_01: It was like slow motion.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm serious.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: It was like the matrix.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_04: That that's exactly what somebody else had mentioned by the student.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_04: They saw this this the spinning of the bullet.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: And and I you think about it and you're like that's that's bull, that's just in my head.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_03: Was that the first round?
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_03: That was the first round.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_03: You remember seeing it and the casing ejecting out the top?
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I did.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_01: Everything, like I said, was slow motion.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_03: Did you hear it?
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_03: Do you so auditory exclusion?
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_03: Usually the first thing that goes is auditory exclusion.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_03: Do you remember hearing any of Any of that?
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_01: All I heard was a pop.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_01: It didn't affect my hearing.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: It didn't I because I can hear.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_01: I can hear I can hear them screaming.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_01: I can hear the background.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_01: I can hear people in the back like, what the hell's going on?
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, holy shit, shots.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I I didn't lose the hearing.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, again, everything was in slow motion.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_01: Same thing with this, with this one.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how or why.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_01: All I remember is me putting my hand in my uh on my face.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_03: How far was that shot that made you think you should defend it?
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: Probably about a good 15 yards.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe maybe a little less.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe maybe about 10 yards.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm I'm giving too much, though.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: About 10 yards.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_01: But you can actually, I I could see the barrel.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: I noticed or I I told myself, man, he's he's shooting my at my face.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: He's shooting at my head.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_01: So all I remember is doing this, and I could see where it went, hit, didn't feel it.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and um and move move forward.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I was literally, I was still on on my on my hands and knees.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: I I I was able to to to get up.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, uh my hands were still functioning.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't remember.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_01: I do remember in the car and at the hospital just spitting out blood.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's was because everything was swelling.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: So it was me gasping or trying to get some air.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_03: So your gunfight was super fast, super horrific, close range, shot in the face.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_03: Your recovery, I mean, if if folks didn't know about it, they would never know you've been in it and um you've handled it like Superman.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_03: Do you think being involved in a prior critical incident helped that?
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_03: Or are they just completely separate and unrelated?
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_03: Do you think they're you think you've managed this well, or is that just who Joey is and you you go through it and you pick yourself up and go on down the road and it it is what it is, or well, I will tell you that I should have been off I I should have been a little bit off of work a little longer.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_01: This one or your first one?
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_01: My no, well both of them.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_01: Both of them.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my my first uh involved shooting when I was at the task force, the state task force.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um I give credit to those guys.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I went through the investigation, they gave me they gave me two days.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_01: Go home, relax.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_01: But you have the choice.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_01: Come back to work, or you could take as much time as you want.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_01: I came back to work.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, the day that I came to work, we planned a uh a uh search warrant.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_01: And and I remember the commander at the time told me, like, can you do me a favor and um not shoot anybody?
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, okay.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_01: Don't make any promises, but oh, I'm gonna try.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think that helped.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think that helped.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_01: Getting back on the horse.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_01: Getting back on the horse.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, having that, having that confidence in in my guys and my leadership saying, hey, you know what?
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_01: You did your job, you did good.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_01: Come back to work.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, of course, nowadays it's not as easy, you know.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you have so many policies now.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, hey, no, you're at administrative leave until this investigation is over, even though it was a good shoot, even though you did what you had to do.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I uh I got home and this was during Snow McGetting.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm literally uh couch potato on a recliner for a couple of weeks.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um I had to return back because when I when they when they left me or they they took me um home the first time.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_01: It was actually sewed up, this swoon.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I had I got a staph infection.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_01: So Anne had to load me up in my truck and drive, and it took almost two hours from my property to go back to Bamsey because it was snow.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_01: And they opened it up, they cleaned it out, and they left it open so it can heal from the inside out.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's what they should have done in the in the beginning.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_01: But, anyways, um, and I have the dates on everything.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_01: I went back to work two and a half months after my incident.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um Yeah, I was two and a half months.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, you one of the biggest things during the during my incident, during the shooting, is I would always tell the guys while we train in in uh in uh fire and uh firearms and and and rifled and and and tactics is don't give up.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_01: Don't give up.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I kept telling myself during my whole incident.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_01: Don't give up.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_01: Don't let these guys see you give up.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, fight through it.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_01: I know that, you know, I was, I guess you could say, tired.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_01: I I wanted to just sit there and just okay, just let this all be over.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm done.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I kept on telling myself, no, no, don't give up.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_01: And and and it's it's a mindset.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's a mindset that you have to tell yourself, stay in the fight.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_01: Whether you're losing or you're winning, stay in the fight.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_03: So that that's in the middle of it.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_03: That's in the middle of a gunfight, a mindset.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_03: What about an officer that got shot last week or or get shot injured bad this week?
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_03: As somebody who's been super resilient, what what would you what would Joey share with them about working through after being involved in a shooting and getting shot?
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um post, not during the gunfight, but how do how do how's Joey's been so resilient?
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_03: What would you share with them?
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I will tell you what helps this letting people know about your story.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um a lot of people like, hey, I don't want I don't want to bring back memories.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_01: This is it's good for us.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's good to share.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um one of the things that you that I take from this whole incident is we don't get into this career to get shot.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_01: But you never know what's gonna happen.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_01: Whether it's daylight, mids, or graveyard, I worked every shift you can possibly imagine, even a power shift.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_01: When you put on that uniform, you put on that vest, and you put on that gun and that shield, you never know if you're gonna come back or what's gonna happen.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody gets sometimes we get complacent.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_01: And it's that thing about, oh, it's just another day.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be back, babe.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_01: See you later.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'll be home at 2.30.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_01: You never know.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_01: That day, my partner was supposed to leave at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_01: He did not leave until 4 o'clock in the morning, the following morning.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_01: You just never know.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_04: Well, uh, what would the 22-year-old Joey Clinton likes to kind of talk about this?
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_04: What would you tell somebody that's just now entering law enforcement of your long extensive history and and experience?
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_04: What would you tell somebody, the 22-year-old kid just starting uh on patrol, what what advice would you share with him if they're after everything that you've been through?
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um look, I'm gonna tell you, um, we get into this career, uh, it's not it's not for uh it's not for glory, it's not for we're not gonna get rich out of it.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um but it's to me it's very honorable when you go out there every person that you come across, of course, treat them with respect, treat them like you're dealing with what with one of your family, but at the end of the day, just watch your back.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_01: Don't get complacent, don't get comfortable.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think a lot of a lot of some of the new guys that I would train as a as a FTO, it's um, you know, I'm uh 22, 10 feet tall and bulletproof.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's not like that anymore.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's not.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think all of us here, you know, when we started, it's nothing like that nowadays.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_01: And that's just the reality.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_01: This is what we live.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_01: This is the this is this is the a daily um uh how can I say uh daily cycle that you have to go through in this in this career nowadays.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_01: But I will tell you that when you become a police officer, you just join the biggest gang that you will ever imagine.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_03: So for closure to our listeners, we see Joey today, Joey's doing well.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Joey and Anna are doing great and healthy, and um you're back up, uh still out there protecting and serving.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_03: But foreclosure to the listeners, driver caught in Mexico, shot trying to get treatment.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_03: What about the shooter?
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_01: Shooter got caught uh two days later.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um he was hiding out at an apartment complex.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um like a coward.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and um, so the one thing that I will say that when I woke up from my coma, um, one of the few things that I I I couldn't speak.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I kept on asking for something to write on, and I actually uh it's it's still uh with the investigators.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_01: I wrote down, what about the shooter?
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_01: And Anawa kept on telling me, they're looking for him, this and that, they still haven't found him, but blah, blah, blah.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_01: They're getting leads, this, that.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_01: All I put there was dreadlocks.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_01: The guy who shot me had dreadlocks.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_01: And he had I don't know if you remember back in the day the old uh eyebrows with the notching the eyebrows.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_01: So so um I put there that that too.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_01: I put you know, tracks on the eyebrow.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_01: So two days later, uh Bear County, I I give I give uh Charles Salazar and his guys kudos.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_01: They were on it like, you know, white on rice.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, as a matter of fact, uh the head lead investigator that was in charge of the team was my ex-DEA boss, uh Nancy Samford.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh she's uh their uh chief uh in charge of uh special crimes.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_01: She stayed up 48 hours on command post just on coffee.
• 55:54
  unknown: Wow.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_01: And um, anyways, um he had changed his color.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_01: He shaved himself so he didn't have no longer have dreadlocks.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_01: The only thing that he couldn't change was the eyebrow.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_01: So uh some of their uh special crime unit guys and SWAT, uh Bear County SWAT, they uh got information where he was staying at.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_01: They waited for him to come out of the uh apartment complex, and they actually took him down, uh going to supposedly go get cigarettes.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh when they caught the the shooter, he still had a nine millimeter on his in his fanny pack, uh some some meth.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_01: And uh he did not put up a fight.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_00: Of course not.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_01: So um as of right now, uh there's a lot of stuff that is still or I can't speak of because it's still under um there they're they're still in county jail.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but uh there are uh we haven't gone to court or we haven't gone anything.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and and I and I understand it's gonna be this February will be two years since the incident.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_01: So we're still waiting.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_03: Mikey, as a as a companion officer, we talk a lot about being a good companion officer when you show up to a partner that's been shot, and we've all been to a lot of shootings, but um going showing up to one where it's your friend, what would you share with others that may have to pull up and be a companion officer to a good friend that's that's just been shot bad?
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_00: We know it's a little more difficult because you know, you're there I would say in a work capacity, you're you're you're you're focused on what needs to be done because you've been to so many.
• 57:49
  SPEAKER_00: But when it's personal, it's it's it's a little different.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're trying to stay focused and not show any you know emotions because you have a wife there who doesn't know what's gonna happen.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you have family members, you have officers standing outside that are gonna see the reaction in your face when you walk out of that room.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_00: The best thing that I can tell you is concentrate on one thing and stay focused.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because the emotions on your face send a lot of messages.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_00: And you've got uh you just we can all do it.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_00: We do it every day at work.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we can all just control that and just stay focused.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_00: I like it.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_04: It's a remarkable story, and I'm I mean just what two years?
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_04: Mm-hmm.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_04: And you're sitting beside me.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_04: I mean you damn sure could have died that day.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_04: When that when that email went out that you were shot, it uh it sent chins chills down me, and I know it just everybody with TMPA was uh just because it happened to somebody you know, you know.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's the only board member only board member to have been shot in the line of duty that we've had.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think so.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_03: As far as I can remember.
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_03: I think we've had some been involved in shootings.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think we've had a board member shot.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_04: Well, this about wraps it up.
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_04: We're gonna fire some questions off.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_04: I hope I'm hoping you guys can answer one that's uh that's my favorite.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_03: Oh Laura, here we go.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_03: Here we go.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_03: Rapid fire, three questions.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_04: Best cop movie or line from a cop movie, best patrol vehicle, and best whiskey.
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_04: Lethal weapon.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_04: That's a good and that's that's probably the most common answer we got.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_04: Movie or line from it.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_04: Uh no way you live.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I I say lethal weapon too, but the first one.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_01: And uh the first one.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, the first lethal weapon.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_03: You said lethal weapon to the first one.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_01: Lethal weapon to the first weapon.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_01: Lethal weapon also.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, lethal weapon also.
• 1:00:04
  SPEAKER_01: Alright.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_01: And yes.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but the first one.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_01: And uh Best Patrol Vehicle.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_01: Best Patrol Vehicle and Mad Max's patrol vehicle.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_01: What?
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_03: Remember that?
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_03: Oh.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_03: Which what's the best patrol vehicle you ever drove?
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, jeez, I have to s oh I I would have to say the chamoo.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what I was gonna say.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_00: The chamoo.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_00: The caprice.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_01: The caprice.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like 95.
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, the L it was the LT1 or had the LT1, the Corvette engine in it.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_03: Tyler's gonna pout because every other guest has said shamu, the uh crown vague.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_03: The crown vague.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_03: So he's gonna be really upset.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_04: Ma man.
• 1:00:51
  SPEAKER_03: I was told they do 151 miles an hour.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_03: I was told.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that, but I was told that they do 150.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_00: I did witness one do pretty close to that, but then it caught on fire.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_00: Chief, there I was.
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_03: I had no idea.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_03: No idea.
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_01: No one was more surprised than I was.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh as a Murban, um, it all depends on uh exactly.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_01: If it's Mikey, if it's Mikey, well, you know a little papy here and there, you know.
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no, but uh uh honestly, uh Angels Envy.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my two out of three, baby.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_04: It is to yeah, someone else's love you long time, Joey.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_04: Angel's Envy makes me do some crazy stuff.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_01: Have you tried the Angels uh uh Angels Envy Rye?
• 1:01:37
  SPEAKER_01: No, I have not.
• 1:01:38
  SPEAKER_04: I probably won't.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_04: That's been common.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_03: Angels Envy's been common on this show.
• 1:01:42
  SPEAKER_04: Man, one shot did me in, boys.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_04: I ain't gonna do it again for the sake of my marriage.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, I'm a little old-fashioned when it comes to that.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna I'm gonna still a Jack Daniels guy.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_00: Jack Daniels, yeah.
• 1:01:53
  SPEAKER_00: The regular one or any certain one.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's the regular little gentleman's expert.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_04: I may have one that couple of.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_04: I may have one tonight.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_04: Well, again, hit that like button, hit subscribe to our channel, uh, check out the Buzz Sprouts website.
• 1:02:07
  SPEAKER_04: It's got all the uh all the platforms that our this this this podcast is uh is pushed out on.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_04: You got anything else?
• 1:02:14
  SPEAKER_03: If you want to hear Tyler's Angel M story, click that in the comments below.
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's a good one.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_04: Uh oh, yeah, it's a good one.
• 1:02:23
  SPEAKER_03: We appreciate we appreciate you guys following.
• 1:02:25
  SPEAKER_03: Uh help the content.
• 1:02:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it's home with you, and uh you take something from each episode.
• 1:02:33
  SPEAKER_03: Give us a subscribe, a like.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_03: Please stay safe out there.
• 1:02:37
  SPEAKER_03: God bless each of you, your family, happy new year.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_03: God bless Texas.