TheeBadOne
October 28, 2003, 10:24 PM
Wounded officer says, 'That's where I work. That's what I do.'
"I feel pretty good. Thank God, I'm here," said Police Officer Michael Keenan, as he exited Thomas Jefferson University Hospital yesterday, stitches covering almost his entire chin. He admitted he was finding it hard to swallow.
Keenan, 35, a 15-year-veteran of the force, was shot in the face Thursday night when he and his partner answered a radio call to investigate suspected drug dealing at 12th and Parrish streets in North Philadelphia.
Keenan confronted two men as he exited the passenger side of the police car. One pulled a gun and shot several times in the officer's direction, said Inspector Bill Colarulo, police spokesman.
Keenan's partner, Officer Harry Wenger, by then also out of the car, returned fire and wounded the gunman in the neck and left arm.
Theodore Woodall, 24, of N. 12th Street near Myrtle Place, was taken to Hahnemann University Hospital, where he was treated and released. Woodall was charged with attempted murder and related charges, police said.
A later police investigation determined that the second man, initially considered a suspect by police, had not been involved in the incident, Colarulo said.
Keenan, who required surgery to close the wound, said he "couldn't say enough" about his fellow officers who swooped onto the scene when word went out that he'd been shot, especially, he said, his longtime partner Wenger. "He supported me and helped me out," he said.
Asked if he would go back to the same neighborhood where he'd been shot, Keenan replied: "Sure. That's where I work. That's what I do. I'm a street kind of guy."
He said the first thing he was looking forward to doing upon returning to his Bustleton home was "hugging and kissing my kids." He'd already had a chance to hug and kiss his wife, Stacy, at the hospital, he said.
The Keenans have two boys, ages 4 and 5, and a girl, 3. Keenan recalled that when he was about to leave for work Thursday night, his daughter asked him: " Are you going to lock up the bad guys, Daddy?"
Locking up bad guys is a family trait. Keenan has three brothers and a niece who are Philadelphia cops.
Keenan's twin brother, Jim, who was with him as he left the hospital, said his first thought when hearing Michael had been shot was, "Oh, my God!" He stayed in frantic mode until he got to the hospital and found his brother was "going to come out of it OK."
Asked if knowing Michael had been shot gave him second thoughts to his own police career, Jim Keenan said: "Not at all. It gives me a stronger will to go out there and take bad guys off the street."
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/7100203.htm
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I suspect the normal reaction to being shot would be some self-relfection during a long time off.
...of course perhaps he realizes it's like falling off a horse. If you don't get right back on chances are you may never?
Anyone else ever been shot by a firearm? What were your responses to it?
"I feel pretty good. Thank God, I'm here," said Police Officer Michael Keenan, as he exited Thomas Jefferson University Hospital yesterday, stitches covering almost his entire chin. He admitted he was finding it hard to swallow.
Keenan, 35, a 15-year-veteran of the force, was shot in the face Thursday night when he and his partner answered a radio call to investigate suspected drug dealing at 12th and Parrish streets in North Philadelphia.
Keenan confronted two men as he exited the passenger side of the police car. One pulled a gun and shot several times in the officer's direction, said Inspector Bill Colarulo, police spokesman.
Keenan's partner, Officer Harry Wenger, by then also out of the car, returned fire and wounded the gunman in the neck and left arm.
Theodore Woodall, 24, of N. 12th Street near Myrtle Place, was taken to Hahnemann University Hospital, where he was treated and released. Woodall was charged with attempted murder and related charges, police said.
A later police investigation determined that the second man, initially considered a suspect by police, had not been involved in the incident, Colarulo said.
Keenan, who required surgery to close the wound, said he "couldn't say enough" about his fellow officers who swooped onto the scene when word went out that he'd been shot, especially, he said, his longtime partner Wenger. "He supported me and helped me out," he said.
Asked if he would go back to the same neighborhood where he'd been shot, Keenan replied: "Sure. That's where I work. That's what I do. I'm a street kind of guy."
He said the first thing he was looking forward to doing upon returning to his Bustleton home was "hugging and kissing my kids." He'd already had a chance to hug and kiss his wife, Stacy, at the hospital, he said.
The Keenans have two boys, ages 4 and 5, and a girl, 3. Keenan recalled that when he was about to leave for work Thursday night, his daughter asked him: " Are you going to lock up the bad guys, Daddy?"
Locking up bad guys is a family trait. Keenan has three brothers and a niece who are Philadelphia cops.
Keenan's twin brother, Jim, who was with him as he left the hospital, said his first thought when hearing Michael had been shot was, "Oh, my God!" He stayed in frantic mode until he got to the hospital and found his brother was "going to come out of it OK."
Asked if knowing Michael had been shot gave him second thoughts to his own police career, Jim Keenan said: "Not at all. It gives me a stronger will to go out there and take bad guys off the street."
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/7100203.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I suspect the normal reaction to being shot would be some self-relfection during a long time off.
...of course perhaps he realizes it's like falling off a horse. If you don't get right back on chances are you may never?
Anyone else ever been shot by a firearm? What were your responses to it?