“I was then looking at myself and the rest of the area from seemingly treetop height and seeing myself flying in the air”
“Back in the day…” I was a Detroit cop. I was blessed to have worked a lot of street units and had participated in so many drug raids that I couldn’t even come close to guessing the total number.
This was in the early 1970s and armored vests were not used much if at all, most of the time. This was an important part of the story that is unfolding here.
Our crew had an informant who had made a controlled buy of heroin from someone dealing drugs from a house near the Jeffries Projects. We obtained a search warrant from a judge and, because of the proximity of the house to the Projects, we chose to raid at 3:00 AM.
Our crews surrounded the house and it was so dark that, in the backyard with no ambient light, I couldn’t even see my own hand. I was one of two officers that would be wielding the battering ram for the back door.
As I had mentioned before, I had never worn an armored vest before this raid but, for some reason, decided to do so this time. My partner and I approached the door, yelled “Police with a search warrant,” and hit the door with the ram.
I should have known something was different when the ram which usually knocks the door in or bounces off, this time punched a hole clean through the door.
We pulled the ram out of the hole to hit it again and at the same time, someone from inside stuck a shotgun through the hole and fired, striking me fully in the torso from less than a foot away.
I remember seeing the muzzle blast reaching from the end of the barrel of the shotgun to my chest and thinking “That SOB shot me.” I was then looking at myself and the rest of the area from seemingly treetop height.
I saw myself flying through the air and landing hard on my backside in the yard. I could see everything in the backyard as if looking through a sniper scope. By this, I mean that everything had a greenish tint to it. Various shades of green. From light to dark.
I could hear all that was going on including the yelling and gunshots of the return fire from the other officers. I felt nothing. I smelled nothing. No pain. I had the same feelings that I have when I watch a television show. Detached!
I must have been in this state for a matter of only seconds but I had no sense of the passing of time. Then I “awoke” sitting on the ground. Seeing and hearing gunfire.
I then felt pain in my innards and elbow but adrenalin was running rampant and the pain seemed minimal until the scene was secured shortly thereafter.
I was taken to the hospital where the doctor said that my visions could have been explained by shock. And the inner injuries were minimal because of the armored vest. But that they would heal quickly. I was beginning to fel blessed, and didn’t know it.
The vest does not stop injury but spreads the shock around the body. The vest was one of the early armor-plated vests and the only pellets that I received were a few through the elbow because I was pulling the ram back.
I was afraid to tell anyone about my experience. I was a heavy drinker at the time and thought that people would just think “Jim’s hallucinating again.” I didn’t see my past life “flash by” as is reported on occasion.
I did not see my loved ones’ faces flash by, either. I saw gunfire, heard yelling and swearing, and near-death all around the house.
I then began noticing articles and studies on Life after Death experiences and it seemed to fit in. A few years later, I joined Alcoholics Anonymous and was introduced to spirituality.
I had not been a religious person and was skeptical that spirituality was just another way of saying religion. When I discovered that spirituality was personal and not structured by man-made institutions, I dove into the study.
Many years later, I told this story to Reverend Stephanie Sorensen, who became my spiritual advisor. She helped me to understand that what I went through was not as rare as I had thought. It was a spiritual experience! I have been comfortable with it since then.
I was not the “oddball” that I had thought that I was. I was blessed to have lost all fear of death after this. My life changed considerably starting at about 3:00 AM that morning.
This is why I know that I was blessed to have been shot. Because of this incident, I discovered that I have a Higher Power that is located, not “up there in Heaven,” but in my heart.
Since then, I have realized how blessed I was to have had this awakening. Thank you, God!
Check out our articles that are being published at https://medium.com/@spiritualityandrecovery