Law Enforcement Technology

DEC 2014

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16 Law Enforcement Technology December 2014 www.officer.com S ometimes everything changes in an instant. Houston police officer Jason Roy woke up the morning of May 3, 2011 not knowing what the day would bring. As it happened, one shift… one traffic stop…one second led to the longest journey of his life. "I put the car in park and I was going to walk out to the car. The guy took off, I got back into the police car." Even though he wasn't wearing his seatbelt all day prior to the stop, at the point right before Roy began to pursue he says something told him to put on his belt. "Boom. So we're chasing. Not fifteen seconds later we were rolling over before we came to rest in that ditch." Photos from that day show a severely mangled cruiser. The roof had caved inward and the front hood crumpled like an accordion. Roy says he was conscious the whole time, slouched over the driver's side window. "The car door was on my neck and I was leaning outside the door. The seatbelt was the only thing that kept me in the car. My partner in the car… had a scratch on his arm and that was it." It turned out Roy's injuries were much more severe. At the hospital, x-rays showed he had broken multiple vertebrae and suf- fered a stroke. "They were very worried about me surviving through the night, let alone ever being able to walk again," Roy remembers. "Initially I was diagnosed as a quadriplegic." Doctors classified him as "ASIA A" which means complete paraly- zation with no movement in the upper or lower extremities. The next year was tough. Following his release from the hospital Roy said he had to "deal with life," meaning depres- sion, suicide, adjusting to his spinal cord injury. He came home, too, to his seven- month-old son. Everything took some adjusting. Between 2011 and 2013 Roy contin- ued forward, despite severe challenges. Doctors' appointments, assistance from family and friends became a way of life. Rehab sessions evolved into (and still are) his day job, his routine. Despite the severity of his injuries, as time went on doctors and family were surprised with Roy's progress. He somehow managed to reach milestones after milestone. He vowed to walk out of the hospital on his own—and then he did. Three and a half years later Roy still LEADERSHIP Walking with purpose How one Houston police officer's life-threatening collision became a call for service By Sara Scullin Jason Roy, Founder of Zero 2 A Hundred Foundation

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