While I was in my second or third year as a police officer, I was dispatched one night to the local Sambo's Restaurant regarding a disturbance. Upon my arrival, I saw a man standing inside the restaurant speaking loudly to the manager. I recognized the subject as a guy that trained at the same Karate school as I did. At that time, he was a Brown Belt and I can't remember what I was ... but it was nowhere near his standing. Also, he and his brothers were well-known in the local boxing community as really tough fighters. He, himself, had a reputation as a trouble-maker in town but I felt that our mutual association as students at the karate school would give me an edge.

As I walked into the restaurant, the manager looked at me and said, "He's got to go. He's caused trouble with another customer and I can't have that." I looked at _______ and said, "Come on, __________, let's go outside so you can tell me what happened. He replied, "I've got food I paid for and haven't eaten. I'm not going anywhere." I could tell by his facial expressions and voice tones that this was not going to go well. After a bit more friendly coaxing, __________ agreed to go outside and tell me his version. I stood beside him and we talked, both facing the front doors. While we were talking, two other police cars showed up and the four officers began walking our direction. I thought this would settle him down and said something like, "Let's move a bit further away from the front doors ..." as I put my hand on his upper arm. The next thing I knew, I felt this jolting blow on the side of my head and a loud "thok" sound inside my skull. It sounded just like the time I got a coke bottle thrown at me during a riot and it hit me in the head. I had a flash thought, "... somebody hit me with a bottle ...." I felt myself drop to the ground and my body was limp. I then blacked out.

While I was blacked out I could feel my body being bumped and stepped on. Somewhere in my subconscious the scenario played out. _______ had somehow kicked me in the head when I touched his arm, I was unconscious on the ground, and the officers and ___________ were fighting above me, stepping on my body as they fought. I felt myself being dragged and then I came to in the arms of a guy whom I assumed was a restaurant patron. He was kneeling down and was holding me in a sitting position. As my vision cleared, I could see ___________ being bent over the hood of a police car, with all four officers trying to get him handcuffed. He was quite muscular and was able to prevent his wrists from being brought close enough together to get the set of cuffs on. I saw the one cuff on one wrist and then I saw another cuff being placed on the other wrist - so there were now two sets of handcuffs, one on each wrist, and the officers were trying to get them snapped together. Still, ________ was muscled up enough that they couldn't even get that done.

About now, I blinked a few times and felt that I had my senses about me again. I suddenly had the thought, "Well, I'm mad now!" I got to my feet and made my way over to the melee. Nothing had changed. Two officers were on each arm, struggling to bring the wrists close enough to engage the two handcuffs to each other. I moved around the the back of the group and could see both of ________'s hands. I remember seeing the veins bulging out as he had his muscles tensed. I reached forward and grabbed one of his little fingers. I bent it such that I was now pushing this hand toward his other hand. It didn't seem to be doing any good and then suddenly there was a loud snap. ________ screamed and went completely limp on the vehicle. He was immediately handcuffed. As I looked at his finger, I could tell it wasn't pointing in the right direction. His refusal to comply had resulted in a broken little finger.

I stepped back from the group and the Sergeant happened to walk up at that point. He told me I looked pretty bad and I told him what happened. I said I didn't mean to break his finger and he said he understood. I got in my car and drove real slow to the hospital. I walked into the emergency room and up to the reception window. I remember saying, "I think I need some help ..." and then falling straight backwards. I was unconscious before hitting the floor. I woke up looking up into my wife's tear-stained face. They told me I had a brain concussion and would be laid up for a few weeks. After a while longer, I was discharged.

I did indeed spend the next few weeks laid up. Unfortunately, it was the Christmas season and it was absolutely miserable for me and the family. As if it's not hard enough to be a cop in this day and age, to be a beat-up and home-bound cop was even worse. I dreaded every single day until I was cleared to return to work

I contacted a local attorney about any possible retribution for this incident. He advised me that a new concept was making its way around the country. It was labeled, "Ducks Shoot Back." Anyway, this concepts was that police officers do not have to just go along with being beat up by offenders, but rather, they could seek civil retribution regardless of whether the offender ws convicted in criminal court or not. The attorney asked me if I wanted to give it a try and I said I would. He filed a lawsuit against the guy, who was still in jail.

After a month or so, I got a call from the attorney. He said the guy had not shown up for a hearing and a default judgement was awarded to me. That was the good news. The bad news was that the guy had no assets for me to seize. The attorney said he would not charge me for the case, since he was a friend to the police and was glad to get a favorable judgement. He told me that if I ever heard that the guy came into money that we could file a subsequent motion for compensation.

It was disappointing to hear that I was not getting any kind of tangible compensation for the experience. Yet, my case initiated other Ducks Shoot Back lawsuits filed by police officers in our area for injuries and damages while they were in the line of duty. My brain concussion was not a total loss after all.

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