In this powerful episode of Heroes Behind the Badge, we share the extraordinary story of Jimmy Kuzak, a former police officer whose life changed forever when he was shot five times during a routine call. Despite being paralyzed from the waist down, Jimmy's incredible journey from trauma to triumph as a competitive shooter and advocate for law enforcement will inspire and move you.

Key Takeaways:

• Courage under fire can manifest in unexpected ways - from surviving multiple gunshot wounds to rebuilding a life with new purpose
• Support systems, including family, partners, and service animals, play a crucial role in recovery and adaptation
• Physical limitations don't define capability - as demonstrated by Jimmy's success as a competitive shooter
• The law enforcement community faces unique challenges that require continued public support and understanding

Episode Timeline:

00:00:00 - Introduction and Background

00:03:06 - The Night of April 4, 2011

00:27:40 - Recovery Journey

00:42:15 - Competitive Shooting Career

00:54:36 - Life with Chris and Service Dogs

Guest Bio:

Jimmy Kuzak served with distinction in Washington County, PA as a narcotics detective for nine years before joining the Clariton Police Department. As a certified defensive tactics instructor, he brought valuable expertise to his fellow officers. Currently, he serves as a Glock brand ambassador, Team Glock adaptive shooter, and certified firearms instructor. Jimmy is also a member of the Citizens Behind the Badge Law Enforcement Advisory Board.

Resources Mentioned:

• Citizens Behind the Badge - https://behindbadge.org
• National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund - https://nleomf.org
• "Heroes Behind the Badge: Sacrifice and Survival" Documentary

Hey, we're glad to see you again.

A warm welcome back to heroes Behind The Badge.

We tell real stories about real cops and we expose the fake news about police.

And we give you the real truth.

This podcast is brought to you by Citizens Behind The Badge, the leading

voice of the American people in support of the men and women of law enforcement.

Citizensbehindthebadge.

org.

I'm your host, Dennis Collins.

Let me introduce my colleagues, Bill Urfurth.

is a founding board member of Citizens Behind The Badge.

He's a retired Miami Dade police lieutenant with 26 years of decorated service.

And alongside Bill today, let me introduce the founder, the

president, and the CEO of Citizens Behind The Badge, Craig Floyd.

Many of you may know Craig as the founding CEO emeritus of the National

Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in  Washington D.C. Welcome, Bill.

Welcome, Craig.

Today, gentlemen, we have a distinct honor.

We are welcoming to our podcast, James Cusack, a law enforcement veteran whose story of sacrifice

and survival embodies the true meaning of heroism, behind the badge.

Jimmy served with distinction in Washington County, PA, where he spent nine years as a narcotics detective.

Before he joined the city of Clairton police department as a certified defensive tactics

instructor, he brought valuable expertise to his fellow officers.

He currently serves as a Glock brand ambassador, a team

Glock adaptive shooter, and a certified firearms instructor.

If you haven't heard Jimmy's story, please stay tuned.

It's an extraordinary story of courage.

It was featured in the documentary film Heroes Behind The Badge, Sacrifice and Survival.

Today, he continues to serve the law enforcement community, and we're proud to have Jimmy as a member

of the Citizens Behind The Badge law enforcement advisory board.

We are honored.

We are privileged to have Jimmy here today to share in his

own words, his powerful story of resilience and dedication.

His journey is an inspiration and a testament to the spirit of the men and women who protect

and serve our communities every day in law enforcement.

Jimmy, you've been a great friend.

You've set an outstanding example of what heroism is all about.

We're honored to have you here with us today to share your story.

Welcome.

Good to see you.

Thanks, Dennis.

It's good to see you as well and to sit here and speak with all of you.

It's always a welcoming and heartfelt conversation with you guys.

Well, we've always enjoyed being with you and your wife, Cris, and today, uh, for those who

haven't heard your amazing story, we get a chance once again to never forget, to never forget your heroic actions,

your courage, and your dedication to the law enforcement community.

So I'd like to ask our leader, our fearless leader, Craig.

To start us off today, he, he and Billy have some, some questions for you.

I may chime in if they get off course, you know, sometimes they, they get a little, so I've got to

step in and no, no, I'm not those guys, but I'm sure they'll do a

great job of, of, of, of letting you have a chance to tell your story.

Craig.

Sure.

Okay.

You, you are truly one of those heroes Behind The Badge and we love to showcase people like yourself on

this as a podcast, but you know, I'm going to take you back to May 13, 2013.

That's when you and I first met.

Uh, you were our July 2012 officer of the month at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

Uh, we were having our conference annual officer of the month

tribute luncheon uh, you were one of our 12 honorees that day.

And, uh, I'll never forget the first time we met, uh, you were looking really good in your dress uniform.

I seem to recall your parents were there with you.

But really what stood out for me that day in our first meeting was this beautiful blonde on your side.

She was really striking, I must say.

Um, and I remember it like it was yesterday.

Um, and, and here we are 12 years later.

Uh, still good friends, still staying in touch, still working together.

Uh, you were one of the first people I reached out to, uh, when I wanted to form a law enforcement advisory council.

I wanted to pick some officers that I had the highest respect for.

And, uh, you were certainly one of those officers.

Um, you have quite a story to tell and.

You know, I was looking back at our officer of the month tribute and, uh, the write up we did for you, it still

appears on the national law enforcement officers, memorial funds website.

Uh, anyone can go there and see it along with all the other officers of the month we've honored over the years.

But it said, uh, patrolman Kuzak believes that if anything good resulted from his encounter with the two gunmen.

It was an opportunity to shine a light on the law enforcement profession and

raise awareness of the courage and bravery of the men and women who serve.

And Jimmy, I couldn't agree more.

Uh, that is what you have been a inspiration to so many with your story.

And I'd like you to take us back to April 4th, 2011, to the incident that changed your life forever

and put an end to your 18 years of distinguished law enforcement service.

Tell us what happened that day.

It's been a little while since I've thought about it.

You know, this far removed from it, you kind of, uh, set yourself apart from it and you move on.

But going back to it, you know, once you start thinking about it, it's all right there.

And on April 4th, I went to work.

It was probably, I think I started my shift at 8 p. m. that night, or no, excuse me, it was at 4 p. m., and I

was going to be working through the evening with my two partners, Matt McDaniel at the time and John Steiner.

So just a normal day to start off.

You go in, you review your reports, you see what the guys were up to, what calls

we've had, and then you go out and get in the car and you start your patrol.

And We had a few calls that evening, nothing major.

I think we believe we had a domestic and as the night went on, it started to rain, you know, Western Pennsylvania

and April's a very rainy month, usually pretty cold, but it wasn't too bad.

I remember at least preparing for work that night, wearing a long sleeve shirt and, uh, we got on the road.

So it was about, uh, I believe we got the call.

It was around 1047 or 1045 that evening.

We received a call to go to, um, Miller Avenue for what was considered a disturbance.

Uh, that disturbance was called in by the neighbor being of one of two places of the duplex on Miller

Avenue called to say, there's something going on next door.

We don't know what we can hear the yelling.

If we can hear the noises going on.

So that's all we had to go on right away.

So as we responded, uh, we got more information that it could be either a

domestic or I believe it was stated, it might be a possible home invasion.

So I arrived first, parked about two, three houses from the scene and come up my lights out so nobody could see me.

And then Matt arrived as well.

We stepped out of our patrol units.

Matt grabbed his, uh, long rifle and AR 15 and I went out just,

you know, with My handgun and John arrived as well and we both.

Uh, John, what we had already come to see, which was we could see some shadows

moving in front of the window in the upstairs, uh, of the, of the house.

So we said, let's approach, we'll go up to the front of the house.

I'll go to the rear of the house.

And Matt was going to kind of just look over both of us.

So as I walked along the side of the house, listening, I could hear sound like footsteps.

Some rushing moving around.

I went to was, uh, the rear of the home was a deck and what I say as a deck is it was very small.

It was maybe four to five feet wide and maybe about four to six feet deep.

Four steps to get up to where the door was.

So I walked up the steps.

Same time I was prepared for what we had going on.

I had my handgun out.

I was just addressing what I needed to, which is my safety and let's see,

could we gain any type of response from the people inside the home?

Well, as soon as I walked up the steps, I noticed that the rear door,

a large white steel door, was cracked open about a quarter to half an inch.

So I like, as I quietly as best I could, I approached the door and abruptly the door shut.

So at that point in time, I announced myself, Clareton Police, opened the door, repeated attempts, no

one did, so I immediately backed away and tried to kick the door.

That being a steel door, it didn't want to go.

So I backed away, came down the steps, got the attention of Matt and John.

And we amassed on the side of the house again, watching the front and back.

And John told me, he says, Hey, I made contact at the front door.

The door was opened only a crack and a male just stated it.

Everything's fine here.

Just leave us be.

And he slammed the door in John's face.

John says, I didn't feel right.

I didn't get to see the guy.

So we know something's going on.

I said, okay.

I said, since something's going on in the front and back, that's the

only two ways they had to exit the house short of jumping out a window.

So we went towards the back of the house.

And again, I approached the steps, John was behind me, but at the time I didn't know how closely John was

to me, and I knew Matt was a little bit back, kind of giving us cover.

Now again, it was pitch black dark at night in, in April, uh, it had begun to drizzle and rain a little bit.

And it just kind of sets the, the feeling of something's not right.

So we knew something was serious in the house and we would shortly find out.

Once I reached the top of the deck, I walked towards the door, but I wanted to step to the side a little bit.

And just as I did that, the door opened abruptly and all I saw was a black doorway.

And then the next thing I saw was an orange muzzle flash.

That was a shock.

I didn't expect any of that to come.

I expected that I was going to read resistance at the door, but nothing to that degree.

With a little bit of my experience, having been involved with the defensive tactics and firearms, um, I had the

knowledge of, you know, the flight or fight syndrome of where your body just reacts to a given stimulus.

Well, that stimulus was.

What I believe to be gunfire and the muzzle flash of a weapon.

Immediately I had auditory exclusion.

I couldn't really hear anything.

And what little sight I had with the being that dark was the muzzle flash.

Immediately upon that first shot, I didn't know that I had been

struck and where I had been struck was as I was bladed at the door.

The first round struck my right forearm, midway, and then traveled to my elbow and lodged at my elbow.

Uh, that immediately took my gun away from me.

I didn't know this.

It was later found about 15 feet away from me.

But as I was standing there, and again, in my time, time has slowed down.

It's, the second seemed like minutes to me.

The second shot had gone.

Third shot had gone.

At this time, I didn't know if they had struck me or not.

The fourth shot would be the most devastating to me at that point in time.

It had struck my left chest area right near my armpit where it had gone through the corner of the vest, traveled

through the vest into my chest, struck a rib, and then that bullet traveled down through my body and across my T11

vertebrae where it immediately rendered me paralyzed from the waist down.

So I went from standing to an immediate drop.

And during that drop, a fifth round struck me in my left armpit.

And when my body hit the floor of the deck, my head struck back on the banister kind of sent me for a

little more of a loop and I busted one of the spindles out of the deck.

So at this time, I really don't know who had shot me.

I just knew that I, I had been injured and injured gravely.

Sitting there on the deck and again Tom standing still for me.

I know that I'm addressing what's going on I know that I'm still awake.

I'm still alive.

I'm still breathing The breathing is getting difficult.

Very difficult as each breath I take I just can't get that breath in But then as I am sitting there I could see a

pair of legs walking out towards me and I thought this has got to be the end This person is not going to let me live.

I don't know who it is, but I know it's somebody in there that has just tried to harm me or tried to kill me.

So I guess I kind of think of it as I kind of turned my head expecting that last round.

And it never happened.

That person continued on over me and I didn't see where they went.

So now my

response to all this is, okay, you, you've got to get out of here.

I don't know where my firearm is.

Now, the next thing is I got to try and contact somebody or contact my partners.

I reach for my microphone on my chest.

It's not there.

So my radio is not functional.

Now I reaching around from my farm.

I can't find it either.

I know that I can feel warmth on the left side of my chest.

I know that's where I've been struck, but I can feel

if you've just would to spill a drink on yourself and it keeps

pouring on you, I can just feel that coming out of my left chest.

And I know that This isn't good.

You really need to do something about this.

And then my mind shifted past All of the training that I'd done of how you need to respond in a shooting

situation or what you need to do, and it went towards, um, the important things in life, what appeared to

me, what appeared to me was, um, I don't know, it was a favorite, but

my grandmother, the past was in my memory or in my right in my mind.

Uh, who I was very close to.

Then the next thing it kind of comes into is your family.

My mother, my father, and Cris, they're just right there in my mind.

And what, what does this mean?

Is this, what's going to be the, the last of what I do?

And then it was our dogs.

We had the time, we had two German shepherds, one Zarwin, large, big.

Brown and black Shepherd.

And we had Xena was a smaller Shepherd.

She was Cris's working dog at the time in search and rescue.

And I could see them sitting on my chest, panting, looking at me like, yeah, it's hard to breathe.

So what?

And once I got that in my mind and we'll.

Was important.

I knew that something clicked and said I'm not dying here on this porch nothing's gonna let me die

on this porch and Garnered up the strength that I could and I

breathed in as much as I could and I started yelling I'm hit Matt John.

I'm down, but I didn't hear anything.

I didn't hear anybody coming I didn't know what was going on.

What I didn't know was how close John was to me And I only found this out later on in the trial.

Uh, John had been basically at the base of the steps in the line of fire and he wasn't struck, but then as soon

as the fire firing started, he took cover right to the corner of the deck and Matt was back far enough that he

was to the side of the house, didn't see so much of who was shooting.

They both thought I was the one doing the shooting.

Obviously it wasn't the case.

So now that Matt and John saw a person run through the yard, they began to give chase and ran about the 10 yards

to the alleyway and got to the alleyway, maybe a little bit deeper than 10.

They started to run and then Matt said he heard something, which must've been me.

And he spins around with his AR and has a flashlight on it and comes up to me on the porch.

Now at the time we were all wearing black BDUs, um, a little subdued with the colors, and we had on

silver patches that were subdued, kind of lettering on them as well.

And he come up and he saw the body and he's like, okay, there's one of them.

And then he looked and he said, that's Jimmy.

He yelled for John and they came back.

And at that point, that's when they knew that, Hey, I hadn't been the one doing the shooting.

Matt had been a lifelong EMT as well, worked on an ambulance.

So to my luck, that's what he did as well as a police officer.

Matt immediately slung his rifle to the rear, told me he's going to have to pull me off the deck.

Matt pulled me off, threw me up over his shoulder.

Now Matt's.

Five, nine, you know, just over 200 pounds, you know, I'm probably over 205 with our gear on.

And he humped me up over his shoulder.

My head was over his back and he started running me out to the front of the house with jaw and giving cover.

Went about a house down to the sidewalk and that's where They were gonna try and take care of me in the biggest thing.

I remembered out of Matt Carrying me was why is my head bouncing off of his butt and it to me?

It's funny it's funny now that I think about it because Okay, you're probably

in the process of actively dying, and this is what comes to your brain.

So, when we get out to the sidewalk, Matt says he placed me on the ground.

I say he dropped me, um, because it felt like my head hit again, so that would have been number two.

But then Matt says, Jimmy, I gotta find out what's going on.

I said, okay.

And it's blurry what I see.

I don't really see everything.

I don't know if that was just from me hitting my head or just the entire situation of what was going on.

Matt ripped my shirt open, took my vest off, moved me, and he said, Jimmy, this is gonna hurt.

Now at this point in time, I haven't felt pain.

I didn't know what was going on other than I knew I was, I was wounded bad.

And let's say I was hoping for the best.

Matt reaches up and grabs at the site where the bullet went in on my left side.

And that was the first time I felt pain and boy, did I scream out in pain and.

I remember feeling the rain on my face, him working on me, John speaking to me.

And then I heard another voice.

It sounded familiar.

Well, at this point in time, I didn't realize they did know.

And the guys were giving out every command they could.

And in Allegheny County at the time.

You're dealing with, uh, a large County that had 127 different police

departments, three major city police departments and a sheriff's department.

So when we need assistance in small departments, they dispatch will call out an all call, which is any and

all available cars respond to our location in the city of Clarendon.

So as that was already happening, I started hearing sirens.

Uh, another officer from another department had arrived and.

I remember hearing his voice and he says, Jimmy, it's Timmy.

I said, I know Tim, I can hear your voice, but I couldn't do much else.

I remember the ambulance arriving.

I can hear them coming up.

I hear the common sound of the stretcher being pulled in and now they're starting to work on me.

And they immediately lift me up, toss me on the, uh, the cot and start moving me towards the ambulance.

I hear all these voices and I'm just trying to stay alive.

I'm just trying to breathe.

They try and get me in the ambulance.

And I remember hearing them say.

Get the damn caught in the ambulance already.

Well, for some reason, you're hurrying.

It just kept smacking off the back of the ambulance.

They couldn't get it in.

They get me inside the ambulance and, and it starts.

Uh, I was fortunate enough to have, uh, a longstanding paramedic on the, on the ambulance, a longstanding

other EMT paramedic on the ambulance, and a young girl that.

Who was just starting her EMT career.

So I later find out it was quite the shock to her.

And unfortunately she, she quit EMT and stuff shortly thereafter.

And I can understand why it's seeing somebody, let alone an officer shot is, is very difficult.

So once in the ambulance, uh, the doors close and.

We get on our way and I could hear that, you know, they were, were intending

on having me go by life flight or at the time we had stat medevac as well.

Well, within the city of Clareton, we still have a functioning steel mill.

So at that point they have a helipad and that's where we were not but two, three minutes away from.

But the rain had gotten so bad that, uh, stat medevac said, we can't fly.

Okay.

That's kind of a bummer.

Let's see what else we can do.

So they take off in the ambulance, not wasting time.

Well, Doug driving the ambulance got ahead of the police car.

So he's the lead vehicle now, as we went down to eight 37.

Uh, commonly referred to as, uh, it's State Street to us, but it's

a major, major thoroughfare for everybody traveling along the river.

A car pulled out in front of the ambulance and he had to avoid that.

And I remember when he did that part of my, my one leg fell off the cot.

They had already had an IV that had been ripped out because the paramedics and the EMT couldn't see as well

as I. So trying to right yourself in an ambulance where you can't see is, is a difficult prospect.

So I remember.

I don't know who any of them said, well, can you pick your leg back up?

And I says, nah, I already told you I'm paralyzed.

So I knew it.

I don't know how or when I quickly knew it, but, but I did.

Uh, it's,

it's a very real with it, Jimmy.

Yeah.

And you realize you're paralyzed for the first time, maybe.

Uh, how did that hit you?

You know, Craig, when it was going through the process, I don't want to say a process, but through the

incident, it didn't register like that that was an issue at the point in time.

I just knew that my legs weren't working and a feeling that you've never felt before.

Uh, they just, I heard this described by another, uh, person, my dear

friend, or what you want to call paraplegics or quadriplegics.

We, they say, put your hand on the desk or on a countertop.

And try and only move your ring finger off of that countertop.

Most people can't do it.

Your middle finger follows or anything, but just to move just that finger,

you sit there and you're telling it in your mind to move, but it doesn't.

Well, that's kind of how it is.

I'm trying to tell my legs to move.

I'm trying to say, let's get up and run, but it doesn't happen.

So that's kind of like your first, you know, thing right there that it's not working.

You don't know why, but let's move on.

And that's kind of how I dealt with it immediately.

But biggest, the bigger thing was, I really couldn't breathe.

What I didn't know was that that bullet pretty much destroyed most of my left lung.

So, and at the time, I was told that my right lung started to collapse as well.

So I remember in the ambulance him saying he's going to have to, um, poke through a needle into my chest

to relieve the, the pressure and the air and the buildup in there.

And he did.

It helped a little bit and then it started going south again.

So he did it on the right side as well.

And that, I guess, helped him breathe a little bit, but still to me, it was so difficult.

I don't, I even know it's, everybody has run, you know what it's like to kind of exhaust yourself and running or to

some point you're huffing and puffing and trying to get that breath in.

And that's kind of what's happening.

But there's no relief to it.

I can still feel the pressure of the blood coming out of my left side.

It's, you just feel it.

It's that warmth of, um, just itself coming down onto your body somewhere.

Well, fortunate enough, the city of Pittsburgh has three trauma level

hospitals, and we were only, you know, on the better end of 20 minutes from it.

Our ambulance trip, they told me, took about 17 minutes.

And I remember The whole hearing the backup beep on the ambulance

when we backed up and then they opened the doors to the ambulance.

Most of the lights shut off and the exterior lights turn on.

And I could feel being drug out on the cot and going into the hospital.

And the other thing, it's oddly how it strikes you as you go in a hospital, I'm looking straight up to

the ceiling and I just see the lights going by and it just reminded me of.

Seeing the sitcoms on TV of E. R. and stuff and how they drop back to showing you those lights.

And I'm like, okay, and then I started hearing all the voices.

Everybody running around trying to do things and I remember

talking to the doctor asking me, What hurts or what can you feel?

And I said, well, Nothing greatly hurts other than I can feel right on the right side of my ass.

It just is burning.

And he's like, okay.

And then I don't remember anything, but to me, what was the end?

And what it was is still having some level of consciousness and then going to solid white.

It wasn't black.

It wasn't anything.

I wasn't nervous.

I didn't know if it was me going out or them putting me out.

And uh, that was the end of the night for me.

It just kind of ended that way.

Basically, as I recall you telling me before that it was those first 48 hours that were so

critical to your survival, there was a lot of concern about whether

or not you would actually live through this ordeal, and you did.

And you look great today.

Um, and you, and you've got a pretty good life, my friend, especially

with that striking blonde, Cris, uh, still by your side, by the way.

Um, Bill, I know you have some questions for Jimmy and, and maybe you can pick up the story in terms

of what happened to these two thugs, uh, the criminal justice process that, uh, took place afterwards.

Um, why don't you go ahead and take us there?

You did a documentary telling Jimmy's story.

You know it as well as anyone.

Yeah.

So Jimmy.

Let's, um, let's just kind of cut to the chase.

We, we, you know, we, we know clearly the hospital did a great job.

Uh, I know this, the stories and the trials and tribulations at the time you

spent in the hospital, but why don't we jump into telling what happened?

I mean, why, what was going on inside that house?

I think now that you've just explained that you got shot, all these

things, people are probably thinking what the hell was going on there.

Yes.

It was quite odd.

I had shortened to be going back just a little bit.

I'd only been at the city of Clareton at the time that I was shot for three weeks.

Three weeks is the only time I've been there.

I went back to that department to, I say, start my second law enforcement career.

I'd already done 18 years in other departments, and now I was going forward.

What we find out later on was, what had actually happened to the home,

On that side of the duplex lived a family, husband, wife, and two kids.

Unfortunately, the husband's career was a drug dealer and he was known that was known that that's where you could go.

He dealt out of the house.

The wife was very much aware that this is the life they lived.

And it was, excuse me, for lack of better terms, drug dealing central, excuse me.

So two thugs, as we describe them, arrived at that door at about 10 45 at night.

knocking on the back door, claiming to be the FBI and to let them in.

I don't know about you, I don't think the FBI usually comes to your door at 10 o'clock at night.

It may be.

In the mornings and stuff, but don't open your door and these idiots did and it was We'll name them now Emilio

Rivera Was the 26 year old that first went in the house I believe

and then well, I almost have to remember the name of the second one.

It'll come to me They went there saying they were the FBI and their intent was to go into that house Get

the drugs get them money and I guess get out that didn't happen They got into the house, they immediately

grabbed the husband, they get the wife, and they get the two kids, and they take them down into the basement.

And in the basement, I guess, from what I'm told, the husband gets pistol whipped, gets beat up a little bit,

and then they took one of the children, and I can't remember which, and they either placed the gun to his head or

to their mouth and said, we're gonna give us the drugs and the money, or we're just gonna kill your child.

So Emilio grabs the wife, takes her upstairs to retrieve the drugs.

So they go to the third floor of the duplex and at the third floor, he gets, I believe the cash and the drugs.

But at this point in time, he's going to, he's going to rape the wife.

He has her up against the wall, had already pulled her pants down

and was, this is her description, kissing her on the neck.

And I guess right upon that precipice to rape her.

It just timing of that is when I arrived on scene and I could see that light on and that third floor Well at that

same time he whatever caused him to look saw the police there as well so he stopped immediately takes her they run

back downstairs and Now they're caught caught meaning they only have the front door the back door They're rushing

around trying to figure out what they're gonna do And that's when one of them closed the back door when I arrived.

And we believe Amelia Rivera was the one that was at the front door talking to John.

So now they address each other and say, we're going to have to shoot our way out.

And I, this happened in the kitchen, which is where the rear door was where I was.

And we get this information from the wife as she testified in, in, uh, the preliminary hearing and

in court, but they said, yeah, we're going to shoot our way out.

And that's what they did.

Uh, waited there until I come up.

And when they saw that I was on that door, there was a window immediately to the left of the deck, but not on it.

And I guess they could either hear or see me coming up.

And that's when they decided to fire.

We found out through the trial that Amelia Rivera was the person shooting me.

Now, I was shot five times.

Could have been either a five shot revolver or a six shot revolver because we found no shell casings at the scene.

This was the Allegheny County Police.

Homicide division investigating no shell casings that would indicate that that was the case

because they didn't stay behind at least one ran after I was shot.

So, but also we never retrieved the firearms to know exactly what it was.

We know that the rounds that.

I was struck by, it was 38 caliber, uh, with the, uh, one that they retrieved from my elbow, the bullet.

And there was also, oddly enough, an almost completely intact bullet found on the deck.

In one of the, the, uh, the crevices that meet the boards.

And it was almost, they said, pristine.

So it was almost like one of the ones that crossed across the

front of my vest hit and stopped and was found there on the deck.

Uh, so yeah, that's kind of the short of what happened to them right there.

I don't know how far we want to go into the trial.

So Jimmy,

clearly a couple of career criminal scumbags.

Yes.

Unquestionably the trial itself.

There was some twists and turns.

They're convicted from my understanding.

What I recall is they get life in prison.

However, it turns into a bit of a shit show with the sentencing.

And I want you to explain, you know what I'm talking about, about your particular situation of being shot.

So we, we went through a rather long trial.

It was one of the longer ones they told me in Allegheny County's history.

It was five weeks.

You know, we know that through the investigation, you've got the two people that.

Wholeheartedly, we believe and are alleging committed these crimes.

So, Emilio Rivera is convicted.

Now, if you think back, he was convicted.

The other one, which, why I don't, can't remember his name is how far out I put it, um, he was acquitted of all charges.

And I equate that to, he had the better attorney.

Anytime that we had, uh, testimony or discussions involving his name, There was a sidebar.

His attorney brought it up and he did everything he could to keep

his testimony about his client either not ongoing or not at all.

That's unbelievable to me.

If I just might cut in that, uh, I thought anytime there's

an accomplice, uh, to a crime, they may not have fired the gun.

Um, but clearly they were part of the crime and thus they should pay the penalty.

Um, how in the world, whether you have a good attorney or not.

I mean, how do you get off when they're, this involves, you know, attempted rape, a home invasion, shooting a

cop, nearly killing a police officer, and this guy gets off scot free.

I can't understand that.

I

just remembered his name, Marcus Andrake, and there's a little bit of a separation that came out in trial.

Uh, Emilio at the time was 26, and at the time, Marcus was 18.

We later find out that the reason they knew that this house was the guy that had the drug dealer was, uh, Marcus had

dated then one of the girls that was in the set, the other side of the duplex.

So he had been over there many times.

He already knew that that gentleman, not gentleman, but the guy there that lived there, he was a drug dealer.

So this is how they knew.

Because, uh, Emilio didn't live there.

Marcus didn't live there.

So that came up in trials as to why.

Uh, how he got acquitted, I have no idea.

I only look at that as when you look at a jury, sometimes they just aren't the people you would like there.

They're supposed to be your peers.

Sometimes peers aren't all that intelligent.

I equate this to, we've all seen it.

How many years has CSI been on TV?

How many things do they accomplish in an hour that.

in real life takes years.

So when you go through the trial and you see what comedy of errors occurred, you can kind of understand that, yeah,

I can see how he got acquitted because there was just too much going on.

Uh, there's, I mean, there's just so many things to enumerate

that happened in the trial that you just can't believe.

We had one of the jurors tossed because it turns out they did not admit that she was a friend of.

Uh, Emilio Rivera's sister, who was sitting behind him, she worked together with her in a nursing home.

And the reason we found that out, Cris's mother went to the

trial one day and said, Hey, I know her, sitting on the jury.

And she told Cris, how do you know her?

Cris says, what's going on?

She says, we all work together in the nursing home.

So we had to remove her from the, from the jury.

So then you put another person on one of the alternates.

And then one time when I was sitting there, this is one of the smaller courtrooms in Allegheny County.

Uh, remind you, the Allegheny County courthouse is built in, I think, late 1800s.

So it's literally this old massive building that, uh, doesn't have courtrooms you see on TV.

They're not very large.

They only have a few.

So the jurors were literally five feet away from where I was in the gallery.

There was only two rows of seats for the gallery.

So they leave the courtroom, the jurors start filing out, and the last juror, when the door opens, it

literally comes to the point where I can grab the doorknob and hold it.

So that's what I did.

I held the door.

And as the last juror, a female, walks out, she said, thank you.

And I said, you're welcome.

Come back from lunch, there's a sidebar and the judge states that the

defense attorney stated that I had contact and was speaking with the jury.

And it was over because I said, you're welcome.

So they didn't toss that juror out, but that was something that came up that another complaint from the

defense that went to the judge was we asked the, the judge stopped after lunch and stated, we'd like to

ask the Kuzak family to stop giving the defendants The death stare.

Well, my father was seated next to me and sitting there and I'm

sure looking at them intently with rage and anger in his eyes.

And they had the defense attorney brought that up to tell my father, basically, don't do that.

How do you do that?

How do you tell somebody sitting there knowing that this, these people tried to kill his son and.

And you sit there and you tell this man, no, you can't do that.

Um, and I was so concerned that I actually said to one of the deputies

in the courtroom, I said, could you please, uh, pay attention to my father?

Cause I just don't know what's going to cause him to crack.

I don't know if he's going to, um, you know, reach out, try and grab

one of these guys, because that's the close quarters we were in.

And, um, I was concerned for him.

Uh, we had another incident when they had a confidential informant on the stand asking him about, uh,

Amelia Rivera, admitting to him on tape that he should have gone back and finished me off and killed me,

the judge, uh, the defense attorneys were dealing with him.

And as the prosecutor said to him, he says, well, did you ever.

Anybody ever know that you were the person telling the police what was going on?

And he says, I don't think so.

But one time I was out in the parking lot and these two guys,

another guy approached me and said, yeah, we know what you were doing.

And they basically were saying, you know, you're the snitch.

The prosecutor says, well, have you ever seen these people again?

He's like, yeah, there they are.

So we know where they are.

In the back of the gallery, there were two black males that weren't dressed appropriately for court.

I would say more in gang colors.

And he said, those two, they threatened me.

So immediately the deputies have to turn away, go to the back, and place these two under arrest for jury tampering.

And not jury tampering, um, can't find the words right now.

Intimidation.

Intimidation.

Yeah.

That's it.

So now you have that happening in the middle of the trial.

Everybody's having to get up and get back and all the deputies come running in and they take them out.

Bill, I know you, um, have some interesting footage that you wanted to show.

Jimmy, when we were together at the officer of the month luncheon, You

had said you were optimistic that someday you would be walking again.

And I know it's been a long haul for you, but I know you have made some progress.

And, uh, Bill, you have some amazing footage of Jimmy actually,

uh, going through his rehab and getting close to walking himself.

Yeah.

So I do want to revisit that with you, Jimmy, and you and I had the opportunity to do this.

To do this film together, this documentary is called, uh, heroes Behind The Badge, sacrifice and survival

in the documentary, you and I, uh, go back to the scene of the crime,

back to those steps of the back of the house where you were first shot.

And, uh, we're going to show that clip.

And then I want to talk about that just a little bit.

Okay.

And all I saw was, was the muzzle flash.

When I went down, I knew I was paralyzed.

I didn't know the last time I walked up those four steps was the last time I was going to ever walk.

That I recall being very emotional.

Not only for you, because of course, that's the first time you've been back there.

So it just brings back all of those feelings and, and emotions at that time.

But it was, it was emotional for me.

Talk about that.

It's odd, Bill.

I, uh, I hadn't seen that part of that video for some time.

Um, so looking back at the back of that house, it's bringing it back.

It was very surreal because, you know, when I took Cris, Cris was driving us that time, and you guys were following.

We pull up outside the front of the house in the daylight,

and it's literally about the same place I pulled up to.

Uh, then we drove around to the back through the alley, and then that's where we got out.

And it's, it's just like, wow, this is right where this happened.

You know, I don't know, I mean, I, I've not had many life changing events.

to this decree.

So to be there was, um, I don't know if it was painful more than it

was wow, just being at this point in my life that night changed it.

And it wasn't my doing, it was somebody else's doing that literally

caused my life to go in the direction that I would have never expected.

Um, And then having you guys there, um, it's not like you were pushing me there.

This wasn't scripted.

This was, this was just like, yeah, you guys went back there with me the first time.

I literally hadn't been on that street.

I hadn't even thought about that house.

So just to be there was, uh, it took me right back, but you just look for simple steps that you take every day

that you walk every day that you, you don't even process in your mind that you're walking your body just does it.

And I looked at that and I had no way to get up four steps and I'm still to that point to this day.

Yeah, it was, uh, it was definitely an emotional experience that we shared there.

Now, we, uh, we also went with you to rehab and you had done some water rehab.

Uh, you went to a specific facility where they.

Put you on a treadmill, they buckled you in, uh, we're going to share that video and talk about that as well.

In

my mind, I'm going to be walking again.

I don't want to say I'm ever going to get there, but in my mind I'm getting there.

So are you still doing the rehab, I guess, and do you still have that same mindset?

Oh, the mindset's there.

I pretty much look at my every day as there's so many things against me, but none of them are going to stop me.

It's just the way it is.

And I don't want to ever think about it any other way.

I don't do the rehab per se that, you know, I go to a place

and I do these things and I don't get to go on that machine.

Um, most of my stuff now is just basically kind of related to my activities.

You know, I work out.

Uh, I get to do that at home, gym, sometimes.

Uh, I have an attachment now that's basically half a bicycle.

It attaches to the front of my wheelchair and I get to hand bike.

So instead of pedaling with my feet, I pedal with my hands.

And I go out to that and I'm Usually up around now, I, with time, I've done, you know, up to 18 to 23 miles at a time.

And that gives me a lot of good workout.

Uh, my shooting now, my shooting career is taking me everywhere.

You know, I get to go to all these different places in different ranges

and that's, you know, the movements and everything I used to do.

I, I used to do it in a manual chair, which was kind of slow.

But now I'm in a, a power chair that I, I have that, uh, I get to go a

lot faster and shoot differently and, and be a little more competitive.

So I get to do a lot of that.

Will I walk in?

And that's a perfect segue because that was, uh, we wanted to kind of move this forward a bit in

the interest of time, but also let's move forward to what you're doing today.

And that is a big part of what you're doing today.

And you, and you competitively shoot and are sponsored by the Glock shooting team.

And we've got a video of you, a competitive video that you forwarded to us.

And we're going to share that right now.

So Jimmy, you're probably.

You're probably a better shot than most cops right now, I would say.

How is that?

Talk about it.

A lot of friends that I shoot with now would say that to like, you know,

in fact, a couple of the cops I know down here shoot with me as well.

And they're like, you know what?

You're, you're shooting a lot more when you get to shoot as much as I have now.

And guys that are on the competitive circuit, you're, you're firing.

I think last year I fired over 15, 000 rounds and I'm on the lower end.

So yeah, I, I I've gotten much better.

Let's just say that.

Uh, but yeah, I was afforded the opportunity to be that brand

ambassador and be a competitive shooter by the Glock brand.

And I want to say it started with what you guys got me into Craig bill.

When we were down, uh, that year for, uh, police week in 2013 and.

One of the pictures I sent to you, Bill, was you, me, and two of the English bobbies were there, and we

took a picture, and we were at that, I believe it was the National Museum, uh, building behind the memorial.

Right.

And that's the day that it's, I think it's Jack Dorsey from Glock gave the check.

Yeah.

Gave the check to the Unity Tour, or to you, Craig, for over two million dollars.

Right.

And I met, I met him that day, and I said to him, I said, What's it going

to take for me to be a competitive shooter or a shooter for Glock?

And he just kind of chuckled and laughed.

And that was only back in 2013.

So then, um, when I was contacted by Glock in late 2015, a lot of the work paid off.

I guess meeting people and talking to people paid off and I was afforded this opportunity that I have been

graciously and filled full of gratitude to accept and get myself out there and not only shoot for me, but to

show other people in wheelchairs or other people with various disabilities that don't let anything stop you.

You can do it again, or you can do something new that you wanted to do,

and Glock Affording Me This Opportunity has done that for me and many others.

What I do want to ask you about, though, Jimmy,

because we see it in the video, then you sent a still picture.

You got these ruby red sneakers on, like from The Wizard of Oz or something.

What the hell is that that you're wearing there?

Where did those come from?

Did you get sponsored

for those too?

No.

What that comes down to is friendship.

And what I mean by friendship is you meet so many people when you're in any type of sports or activities like that.

Well, the guys that I repetitively, and women I repetitively shoot with at my

local range, the Hanson range, uh, they are the ones that brought me along.

Yeah, I've shot since I was eight years old, but when you get

into the competitive realm, you, you need to learn a lot more.

And all these people, excuse me, helped me with that.

And then I always joke to them, because in these sports, you have what they call fault lines on the ground.

You can't step outside of them and shoot.

If you do, it's a foot fault.

So I always joke where my foot would be placed.

In reference to my wheelchair and I said, well, you guys, you can't even give me a foot fault

because you guys are wearing these Solomon shoes and you can see them.

So I didn't know this.

They heard that when I said it and they went out and bought me these red shoes, the brightest color you can imagine.

And we were at a match at our range and they, I mean, we had a ton of people there.

And I remember Sean, she comes over to me and hands me this bag and I'm like, what is this?

And then all of a sudden I see everybody looking at me, I'm like, this isn't going to end well.

And I pulled out the shoe box and I opened up and there they are, these bright red Solomon shoes.

I said, well, now they're definitely going to try and give me foot fault because you can see my feet.

So anytime I go and compete, I always wear those shoes.

There you

go.

Well, I knew there had to be a story to that.

Yep.

How about Craig, we wrap this up with the last question from you and let's talk about Jimmy's dogs.

Yes.

Very good.

I will ask this because we've alluded to her, at least I have before.

Um, this amazing, beautiful woman that's been by your side throughout this ordeal.

Uh, Cris, your wife, um, tell me about Cris and, and how important

has she been in terms of your recovery and in terms of your life?

Wow, you guys really, um,

if you want me to get emotional, this is it.

Um,

it's been 15 years we've been together.

The first year that we were together, I obviously wasn't in a wheelchair.

We had been together one year when this happened.

And when you're in the hospital, you know, I'm getting one thing from the medical professionals and Cris is

getting another from the people trying to make you understand what's going on.

And they told her, look, um,

boyfriends and girlfriends don't usually stay.

Fiances, at the time, she was just my girlfriend.

Fiances, maybe 50 percent of the time, you'd be lucky if they stay.

And marriages die because of this a lot of the times.

So she's not giving good odds.

And I remember one day when it was just us in the room, and I told her, I said, Look, you didn't sign up for this.

I understand if you need to go.

And I said, I don't feel bad.

My family won't feel bad.

She never left.

She never alluded to leaving.

She never showed me any reason and she never did.

Um, that's something that I'll never let go of.

So Cris is on the good side of this.

She is amazing.

She has dealt with everything that comes along with now being the partner of a paraplegic man.

Um, your legs don't work, your, Bowel and bladder program is

something you have to monitor and do yourself repetitively every day.

You don't do it like you used to.

All the medical stuff that comes along with that, all the doctor's appointments that she's had me go to and go with me.

She knows more about me and my body and what I have to do and take than I do.

So that's just that part of us being in a relationship.

Now, the fun that she brings to everything is, is that we interact

greatly as we find something humorous in everything we do.

And now, at this point in life, we have four dogs.

Not four small dogs, four large dogs.

We have three German Shepherds and a Doberman.

Uh, and they have been so much fun.

Not always fun on the good aspect, because they're dogs and you have to train them, but we've had some

medical issues with them too, and when they're Basically your children, you, uh, you, you treat them as such.

Cris has been on multiple occasions with different dogs.

She's been part of multiple search and rescue teams where she has had, uh, our

dog is trained in HRD, which is human remains detection or a cadaver dog.

And she's been on many searches where they've been, uh, missing persons.

They've been, uh, homicide cases with two of our dogs.

We still have one.

She's in her later stages of life.

She's 11.

She's retired.

She, unfortunately right now is also paralyzed like me.

She can't use her rear legs.

So Cris every day lifts her up.

Lifts her up every day like she helped me and keeps this dog

in a happy life by taking her outside multiple times to go pee.

Um, we get her in the pool.

We have a pool that the dogs use more than us.

So we're out there usually every good day letting them swim, jump in and out.

And, uh, that's what we do.

And that's mostly the other part of our life.

Cris gets to let me, she lets me enjoy.

What I say is, she just knows what I enjoy, and she's like, go do it.

So that's the shooting part of it.

And then with her and the dogs, man, she handles all of it.

And she is, uh, she is who is supposed to be in my life.

And, uh, she is.

A great love story.

Both you and Cris, especially you and Cris, but also Yes.

You and Cris, and the dogs.

And the dogs, yeah.

And I've loved every minute of it.

La last question I have, I, I, I sure I need to hear the answer.

You, um, have been paralyzed, uh, through a shooting incident because

you were a police officer putting your life on the line every day.

Uh, for the safety and welfare of your community, um, and it's cost you a lot.

Uh, do you have any regrets, uh, that you became a police officer, uh, and served for 18 years?

No.

Never once.

Never once.

Uh, I, I talk to police officers now a lot, uh, I've gotten some friends still in law enforcement

and I tell them, I don't know that I could be involved in it today.

I guess I'm just already that far removed.

You know, I was, my generation, I'd already had, when I was medically retired, I had 20 years on the job.

So, uh, even the guys that trained me, we're all retired.

Uh, so then now I become the person who's training other officers.

Uh, and now I see today what's going on with.

Like why you created Citizens Behind The Badge, this defund, this, the police officers are no good.

And I just, no, I can't stand for that.

You know, if it wasn't for the police officers, who would you call?

Where would you be?

Um, how would your family survive?

I think a lot of people forget that we are the last.

standing line between you and crime and you and um, injury to your family.

How many police officers do we see now that are involved in shootings daily?

Daily they're involved in shootings.

Uh, I remember it was hard to understand that when I was a police officer that we had this many shootings.

I know that I've attended too many police funerals.

Uh, I don't want to go to any more, but unfortunately that's the error of what it is that we're getting it back.

I know with efforts that you've done and Bill and everybody on this board, uh, have created.

And I see a lot of what people are finally fed up.

And you can see that by where our political realm has gone.

They're fed up and police officers are getting back to doing the job

that they're required to do, and now they're being let alone to do it again.

So, Jimmy, Jimmy, you da man, baby, you da man, I'll tell you what, you are, and this is what

I'm gonna leave this with, people need to know, you are a, you're an incredible fucking guy, incredible in

so many ways, I mean, the strife and everything that you've gone through, people need to know, you are, and

I've said this to so many people, it is astonishing, the Absolute positive attitude that you always have.

You're always upbeat.

You're always happy.

And you're an incredible fucking guy.

Well, I appreciate that, Bill.

I appreciate that coming from you.

I have valued our friendship over the years.

Uh, usually when you and I talk, it's never serious.

It's usually comedic in nature, and that's what I enjoy.

He

brings that, he brings that out.

He brings out that comedic, uh, but he was a pretty good boy today.

He, okay, he watched himself.

So I didn't have to, I didn't have to step in with my Buzzer.

So I can't tell you how much we appreciate your courage to tell your story.

I know that has to be brings back some not so good memories.

But you know what?

Your story is an inspiration to every one of us because you are the embodiment.

It's not what happens to you in life.

It's how you respond to it, how you respond to it.

You are the image Um, a perfect response and I know it's not perfect for you every day.

It's perfect in that you don't give up.

I like something you said during this interview.

So many things against me, but nothing is going to stop me.

Don't let anything stop you.

That's the message that Kuzak, a true hero Behind The Badge.

I appreciate the kind words.

Thank you.

Well, we appreciate you and thank you for telling the story.

That is, that is this edition of heroes Behind The Badge, real

stories, real cops, and the real truth, and you got the real truth.

From Jimmy Kuzak today.

If you'd like to know more about Citizens Behind The Badge,

CitizensBehindTheBadge.org, CitizensBehindTheBadge.org.

Join the hundreds of thousands of people who are already lending their support to the men and women of law enforcement.

We'll be back soon with another edition of Heroes Behind The Badge.