Was there ever a situation that you look back on that almost claimed your life?

Question

Donald Soranno · Answer

Was there ever a situation that you look back on that almost claimed your life? Yes, when I was an agent with ATF in Detroit, we had just executed a search warrant on a house Along with an arrest warrant looking for an individual and we knew he was in there Searched around could not find him. So he figured maybe he escaped So being the newer agent, they sent me and my partner upstairs to start searching and it was extremely hot so the first mistake I made was I took my bulletproof vest off and We're searching around the room and I'm searching in a closet and I'm pulling Looking for mail and photos and evidence and anything Well, I get done with the closet and I turn around and a voice inside my head said Don check the closet again. I Stopped dead in my tracks the hair in the back of my neck went up. I turned around Drew my gun drew my flashlight went back into the closet and I missed in the corner. There was a little cutout Looked inside there saw a hand. I'm like, oh shit. I Got a body up here well until the hand starts to move I Draw down my pistol on the hand where the body would be. I start squeezing the trigger as I'm yelling commands to him Individual doesn't stop I can actually see the trigger or excuse me the hammer coming back on my six-hour I say screw this step out of the closet end up Calling my partner over and up getting the individual out and he said that when I Was in the closet searching he had the handgun which we found in there up against the plaster wall and he was gonna shoot me But he knew there was somebody else out there and he'd have to jump out of the third floor To get away. So the story is never ever ever take your bulletproof vest off

Eric McCants · Answer

Was there ever a situation that you look back on that almost claimed your life? Not that I can think of. Like I said, I know there have been a lot of situations where things have been kind of scary as far as car chases, as far as fighting or SWAT call outs. But I've never been that close to having a near death experience as far as working or even in life really. I've been around people who have died, you know, being in law enforcement you don't see people that have been murdered or been killed in vehicles or anything like that. I've been one of the fortunate ones to never experience anything like that.

Dave Robertson · Answer

Was there ever a situation that almost claimed my life? There have been a few. You know, it is firefighting. It is a dangerous, dangerous job. But one of them actually had to do with having to, as a paramedic, confirm the death of someone who had unfortunately, sadly, shot themselves in their car. And as a paramedic, I have to do EKG leads to confirm there is no heart activity. So I'm kind of working with the patient, the victim, on the driver's side. They're in their driver's seat. And in the passenger seat, a police officer was rummaging around and moving the body and whatnot. And I asked him what he was doing. He said, well, we haven't found the gun. And, you know, I'm doing my work. He's doing his work until he says, hold it. Don't move. And I looked down and the gun had fallen between the victim's body and the seat belt buckle. And it was pointed right directly at me as we were moving this body around. That is probably as close as I've ever gotten as a medic. I've got some other fire stories, too, but I've run out of time.

John Kelly · Answer

So the question is, was there ever a situation that you look back on that almost claimed your life? Yes. Sometimes on a weekly basis. You know, being a first responder in law enforcement in South Florida in the 90s all the way up until 2020, there wasn't a week that went by where your life wasn't in jeopardy. It's just the way, nature of the job. And so knowing that going into it, going into it with your eyes wide open, that there's always the potential not to go home. You should be okay with that. Do the best that you can for yourselves and your partners. You live to fight another day. I hope that answers your question.

Robert Verhelst · Answer

So this is a hard one to answer because the situation when I look back that almost claimed my life was my own stupidity from a standpoint of not getting help for the mental health issues that I have sooner. And I can't sit here and blame myself but I can sit back and look at it from a perspective of how can I continue to move forward with my life and how can I help others to look at their situations and not let this claim their lives. For myself it's so powerful to be able to understand and own that it's something that I have and it's okay to be half full on days. It's okay to not feel great on other days. But I always have somebody that I can talk to. I always have an outlet that I can go to and that's for me that was a situation where it almost claimed my life but now I've taken ownership of it. I continue to work on it daily. It is a growth and so all I can do is try to help myself to continue to survive and help others to do the same.

Swimming

Strength

Triathlon

Photography

Track & Field

Nutrition

Physical Therapy

Running

Pets

Cycling

Podcasting

HealthCare

Musculoskeletal

Hockey

First Responders

Integrative Medicine

Chiropractic

Cross Country Skiing

Adaptive Sports

Climbing

Mental Health

Surfing

Tennis

Military

Mind Body

Scholars

Criminal Justice

Liquor

CrossFit

Golf

Soccer

Pickleball

Hunting

Public Speaking

Venture Capital

"Was there ever a situation that you look back on that almost claimed your life?"