Getting shot and watching the incident as if I were watching from above
About 50 or so years ago I had a traumatic, life-changing experience. I was a Detroit Police Officer assigned to the Narcotic Section. Before this particular night, I had been on more drug raids than I could count. Armored vests were not as common then as in later years and I don’t believe that I ever wore one during these raids. And I never was shot!
We had obtained a search warrant for a single-family home to search for drugs and paraphernalia. Illegal drugs had been sold from here to a confidential informant.
Because we had information that there were multiple weapons inside, we planned to strike at approximately 3:00 AM. I was to man the two-man battering ram with another officer and chose to wear a vest. Just didn’t think of getting shot. I don’t know why I chose to wear the vest this time but just did.
Our raiding crew surrounded the house and we took the ram to the rear door. It was very dark in the backyard and almost impossible to see anything. The only light was coming from the nearby Jeffries Projects.
When the ram is used to force a door, it usually would either knock the door in or bounce off. This time was different. It placed a hole through the door about the size of a grapefruit.
Immediately after we pulled the ram back, a shotgun followed through the hole, and BAM! I was shot point-blank in the chest. The same chest that, for seemingly bejillions of other raids, had been unprotected. The force threw me backward off of the porch, onto the ground.
I remember seeing the flame from the muzzle as the gun was fired from about 12 inches away. I remember thinking “He shot me!” Then immediately I “saw” the proceedings from another location.
I was looking down on the entire backyard scene from treetop height. Saw “me” in the air landing on my back on the ground. I was looking at a pitch-black yard but seeing everything in it, as well as other areas of the house. All that I could see had a greenish tint to it. I could see and hear all that was occurring.
I had no sense of time passing. Was totally in the now of the situation. Some of the shouts and conversations and return fire that I saw and heard from “above” were confirmed at later times.
I felt no pain or anything else, during this time. The only “senses” that I seemed to have were sight and sound.
I was probably watching and listening from “above” for a matter of only seconds. But, those few seconds had a lot of observations. So it is difficult for me to realize really how much time passed! I was treated and released from the hospital for minor injuries. The incident was explained to me as being probably caused by the sudden trauma of being struck by the pellets in the chest portion of the vest.
I didn’t “see my life flash before me” as reported by others. Did not see or think of loved ones as also reported by some.
I was fearful of mentioning this for several years to anyone because I believed that others would just think that I was hallucinating again or telling stories. Some others even doubted me. I even began to wonder if I really saw what I thought I had seen.
I discovered books and stories of others having Life after Death experiences. Saw some that had experiences similar to mine. Experiences such as looking down from above and having no sense of time. I then knew that this is what I had experienced.
I recently related this to my Spiritual Advisor, Reverend Stephanie Sorensen, from the Life Enrichment Center in Flint, MI. She confirmed that this is probably what I had experienced. She knew of other similar instances being reported. I felt much better about my mental condition after talking with her about this. I did not believe that I had repressed so much about this before.
Spirituality is involved in this how? Because I wore an armored vest for maybe the first time ever during a raid. Because I had no concept of a Higher Power at this time but I quickly and deeply began to try to understand just what had happened to me here.
I do not believe in coincidences! I believe that Spirituality had everything to do with it. Sure seemed like a coincidence that I wore a vest this particular raid, though!
Spirituality was also involved when considering the fact that I saw myself “from above” starting immediately after being struck by the shotgun pellets. Because I quickly tried to get back closer to the ones that I loved after putting them off for years. Because I was ready to finally become Happy, Joyous, and Free. I had been a miserable alcoholic doing more existing than living.
I soon thereafter began looking for a remedy to my alcoholic existence, not even knowing that I was (and am) an alcoholic. It many times takes a lot to get through to an alcoholic. But, it finally took hold and grabbed on to me. I embraced it and have since October 20, 1976.
If this dramatic change can happen to me, it surely can happen to you, too. I surely am not advocating going out and getting shot, though. How, then? Just surrender to your Higher Power, say “God, help me,” and let Him! Thank you, God!
Check out our articles that are being published at https://medium.com/@spiritualityandrecovery
