Advice from a man who’s been there….

Yesterday I had an in-service class on departmental standards and procedures. Now in any chosen profession in-service training is often worthless and boring. Yesterday was not that type of class.

We watched a video on support for officers who have been injured and are on light duty or medically retired. At the end of the video there was a section on Officer Rick Salter, a narcotics task force officer shot in the face while serving a warrant. This was really an ambush. In the hood they were hitting a home where the security system was worth more than the house. It was a major jolt when we saw his face while he was in the emergency room of Ben Taub General Hospital…a sobering thought you live with every time you start the shift.

I remember the night of March 5th, 2009. I was at the station about to unload my vehicle when I heard “OFFICER DOWN!!! OFFICER DOWN!!!” on the radio. My station has the Houston hospital district in it and whenever an officer is being brought in we block the road to expedite the convoy. But before we could get organized a quick acting ambulance crew had the man in the emergency room. The evening shift did not go off duty until we heard his ambulance was at Ben Taub. We watched over the next few days and next few months as he struggled to recover, wanting to get back on his narcotics team. Finally he had to accept a medical retirement due to the injury and a stroke as a result of the injury.

Then the instructed said “Ladies and gentlemen, Officer Rick Salter.”

He walked down a little unsteadily and we immediately gave him a standing ovation. It was moving to see him still getting around after (I believe) eight surgeries and hundreds of doctor consultations. He wife, who has been with him for around thirty years and is still standing near him, helped him to the front of the class.

He spoke for about five minutes on what happened and basically describing that night as an ambush. He made the point many a cop thinks they will either live all the way through or if shot they will die. What is often not thought of is living with an injury. He was only able to speak for a few minutes because one of his vocal cords is paralyzed by the stroke.

Then Mrs Salter made the point of the issues she had to deal with since the shooting. She got a knock at the door and stayed in the hospital for almost six months straight. Mrs Salter made no attempt to hide her opinion of the support she and her husband received. “The union has been great, the department has been good, the city has sucked!” Mrs Salter had to deal with bureaucrats demanding proof she is married (again they were hitched for over twenty-eight years at the time of the shooting), that they had children, etc. When they medically retired Officer Salter they held his payments until she cleared supply for him. They demanded all six of his wooden batons (for the non law enforcement types out there they are cheap and you tend to acquire them over your career)…they would not let her clean until she turned in the flap holster he was issued in the police academy in the early 80s. After a few days they found it in the attic…and when she turned it into supply the clerk check off the clearing paperwork and then threw the holster in the trash. We can see it was a critical asset that needed to be accounted for.

Mrs. Salter made the point the wife needs a file to assist in the days after a major injury. She had to make major decisions without knowing what he wanted. She criticized cops for “…you will spend five thousand on a new toy, a new gun, but you won’t spend three hundred on a will…” Mrs. Salter recommended a “to go” file with marriage license, birth certificates, will’s, power of attorney, medical power of attorney, etc.

Seeing him and getting a taste of what he and his family have had to deal with is a sobering reminder of something cops don’t like to face. It’s fairly simple to get over the thought of dying in the line of duty. You will die…be it in while on duty or after a long retirement…it’s the living with a major injury that you avoid thinking of.

And yes, I do not want to think of it…but I will get off my dead ass and do what Beth has been demanding. A new will, a living will, etc… and I’ll put it in a file for her. It will be bad enough if she gets the knock at the door…better be prepared for it .