‘Horrifying’: Orlando police chief reflects on 2 officers’ recovery following shooting

ORLANDO, Fla. — Two Orlando police officers who were nearly killed in the line of duty are determined to make it back out on patrol.

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For the first time, WFTV is hearing just how seriously they were injured when they were shot multiple times during a traffic stop in the middle of downtown Orlando last August.

The officers are still not ready to talk, but the police chief agreed to sit down with WFTV to share how horrific the night was, their injuries and their physical recovery.

WFTV was preparing to head out on patrol with the chief and police officers with the downtown TAC unit.

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Thirteen months later, the officers are still going through extensive physical and mental recovery.

Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said that seeing the officers in the emergency room was chaotic.

“I could see the officer behind them, you know, cutting off his clothes, hooking up to all sorts of tubes and all that kind of stuff,” he said. “It looked, you know, a lot of blood. It was just almost horrifying.”

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“And then, you know, moving it away from that, a doctor telling me like both officers are in very grave, you know, condition,” Smith said. “You know, they may not make it that night. And that just cut through me like a knife.”

Smith said their injuries were above the vest line, and leading to massive injuries to the arm.

“You know, the vest does a lot, but there are areas that, you know, of course, our vest and it doesn’t cover.

The officers have 18 months to return to patrol.

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If they decide against it, they can retire, earning just 80 percent of their salary, and both only have a few years on the job.

“It’s up to those officers, but a lot of it’s up to the doctors and the rehabilitation crew and all those kind of things are going through,” Smith said. “I think both of them want to come back, but I’m hoping that they both can.”

One of the officers is back on light duty only, but again not on patrol.

They have already shown resilience, as the doctors were unsure if the officers would survive.

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