Police Shot in the Face, Then Fired by His Agency

Police Shot in the Face, Then Fired by His Agency: His PTSD Journey From Trauma to Purpose. A single bullet changed Cameron McKay’s life forever. On March 12, 2015, the police officer was standing on a protest line during the Ferguson, Missouri, protests when a .40-caliber full-metal-jacket bullet struck him in the face. Supporting articles about this and much more from Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show and Podcast in platforms like Medium , Blogspot and Linkedin. It entered through his right cheek, traveled toward the back of his head, deflected off the inside of his skull and entered his neck. The bullet finally stopped between his carotid artery and jugular vein. The Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show and Podcast social media like their Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , Medium and other social media platforms. McKay survived, but the shooting was only the beginning of his fight. The Podcast is available for free on the Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show and Podcast website, also on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, iHeartradio and most major podcast platforms. #LawEnforcementTalk #Free #Podcast #Radio “I was trapped in time and stuck in the moment when I was shot,” McKay recalled. “Part of me couldn’t believe I was still alive. I didn’t think anyone could survive being shot in the head.” Five Years Into His Police Career, Everything Changed McKay had served in law enforcement for approximately five years when he was critically wounded. At the time, he was an officer with the Webster Groves Police Department in Missouri. The man convicted of shooting McKay and another police officer during the 2015 protest was ultimately sentenced to 25 years in prison. A criminal conviction, however, could not repair the physical and psychological damage McKay experienced. After the shooting, his mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health fell into turmoil. Flashbacks repeatedly pulled him back to the protest line. Constant anxiety drained him during the day, while terrifying dreams followed him into the night. Police Shot in the Face, Then Fired by His Agency: His PTSD Journey From Trauma to Purpose. “I felt like I was reliving the shooting again and again,” he said. “During the day, anxiety consumed me. At night, I dreamed about dying in horrible ways.” The Hidden Battle With PTSD For nine months, McKay attended psychological therapy twice a week. He took his prescribed medications, hoping they would stabilize his mood and allow him to sleep without disturbing nightmares. He was also self-medicating with alcohol in an effort to escape the pain, even if the relief lasted only temporarily. His experience reveals a difficult truth about post-traumatic stress: surviving the original incident does not necessarily mean the danger feels over. For McKay, the gunshot wound was visible. The PTSD was not. “I was trying everything I knew to quiet what was happening inside me,” he explained. “I wanted relief from the place where my mind had become trapped.” The Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show and Podcast, is available on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other major podcast platforms. The interview is also featured across Facebook and Instagram. Shot in the Face, Then Fired by His Agency Eleven months after the shooting, McKay’s law-enforcement career came to an abrupt end. According to McKay, the Webster Groves Police Department fired him because he had not recovered enough to return to duty at 100 percent. Police Shot in the Face, Then Fired by His Agency: His PTSD Journey From Trauma to Purpose. He had survived being shot in the face while serving as a police officer. Now, while still attempting to recover from that traumatic injury, he also faced the loss of his badge, career and professional identity. “Police work wasn’t simply what I did, it was part of who I was,” McKay said. “Losing that career while I was still fighting to recover created another kind of trauma.” His story, Police Shot in the Face, Then He Was Fired by Agency: His PTSD Journey, raises serious questions