BAKERSFIELD, Calif.
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On Feb. 9, Bakersfield Police Department Officer Dennis Eddy was seriously wounded and lost his leg when he was shot by a gang member.
"I remember late evening, ten o'clock hours at night
patrolling the area of Feliz Drive."
That's when Eddy and his partner saw east side Crips member Leon Anderson. When they tried to make contact, Anderson ran.
To try to end it quickly, I attempted to taze him
he pointed a gun at me and started shooting."
Eddy was hit in the chest, but the bullet did not pierce his vest.
"I threw my Taser down and returned fire at him ... he fired again. This time it went through my leg and knocked me down on the ground. Believing that he was going to run up and just basically finish me off, I jumped back up and returned fire a third time."
Eddy said bullets were still flying as three officers came to his rescue.
"All these things are going on, but in the back of my mind I truly thought I was going to die and I wasnt going to see my family anymore."
Police returned fire and Anderson was killed.
Those officers saved Eddy's life, but doctors couldn't save his right leg. It was amputated two weeks later. After months of physical therapy, Eddy is now walking with the help of a cane and a prosthetic leg. "It started off with learning how to roll a wheelchair. It gradually progressed to walking with crutches." He's even learned to drive with his left leg.
Eddy still has at least six more months of physical therapy before he can go back and hit the streets at end of this year.
"Seeing everything that's happened since that time and the way the public has come behind the Bakersfield Police Department and me and this situation, has made it easy to come back and I want to come back to the job. Because I love what I do."
Tomorrow the young lawyers section of the Kern County Bar Association will host a fundraising dinner for Eddy and his family at the Petroleum Club.
On Wednesday, the young lawyers section of the Kern County Bar Association are going to do their part by holding a cocktail hour, dinner and silent auction at the Petroleum Club at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $45 and only available in advance by 7 p.m. Tuesday. Please call 661-326-1611.
