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Jan. 24--To see Ben Candelaria uniformed and in a police squad car again is to see him walk and run -- unbelievable.
After nearly losing his life in an on-duty, head-on accident almost two years ago, Candelaria is a full-time Pueblo police officer again, having returned to work around the first of the year.
"He surprised us all," Chief Jim Billings said.
Candelaria, now 42, suffered life-threatening injuries the night of March 20, 2009. He was speeding up Lincoln Avenue in pursuit of a traffic offender when a drunken driver turned in front of his cruiser.
Not wearing a seat belt and driving 30 miles over the posted speed limit, Candelaria suffered massive brain bleeding and a collapsed lung in the crash.
"From that day, I can barely remember leaving home. I remember part of roll call. What I remember is waking up (days) later screaming 'I can't take it anymore!' " Candelaria recalled recently while patrolling the South Side. "It was touch and go there for awhile. . . . But I'm not a quitter."
His injuries were such that many worried for Candelaria's life, never mind a return to the force. But anyone who knows "Candy," as he's fondly known as, knows he has a knack for healing.
In November 2005, Candelaria was seriously hurt trying to arrest a wanted man who had commandeered an unattended police car.
Fresh off desk duty following shoulder surgery, he was struggling with the suspect through the driver's side window when the car accelerated and crashed into another patrol car.
The cruiser reversed and then struck the car again. Candelaria managed to shut off the car and apprehend the 21-year-old, but his back was broken in the process.
He recovered and returned to work, but recuperating this time around was an entirely different challenge. He had to learn to walk again.
Candelaria underwent 11 medical procedures -- from drilling his skull to ease growing brain pressure to replacing entire sets of ligaments in both ankles and knees. "My left leg, from the knee down, was just hanging by the skin," he said.
He spent two months at Parkview Medical Center after the accident and wasn't out long when he was admitted again for blood clots in his lungs. He was in and out of the hospital for surgeries and other procedures for the next couple years. In the last operation, in October, "hardware" was removed from a leg, he said.
For a grown man who had been at his physical peak before the accident, learning to walk again proved to be long and taxing.
"I didn't think my legs would hold up," he said. "Doctors told me 'You're never going to run, let alone walk right.' "
Family and friends were instrumental in his recovery. So was the mental discipline acquired from his martial arts background that gradually came back and helped him focus. He gave large credit to physical therapists Tanice Vincent and Kayla Diluzio, who helped him progress from a walker and crutches to eventually walking on his own feet.
"They were right there the whole time, like, literally carrying me. They're like my sisters now."
Physical rehabilitation wasn't the only struggle.
The family breadwinner, a husband and father of three, Candelaria found himself standing every week in a charity line. Workers' compensation checks didn't pay like his regular checks and his family accrued additional expenses because they were in the process of moving to a larger home when the accident happened.
"Every Tuesday I'd go stand in line for commodities. Some of the food was expired, but, beggars can't be choosers," he said.
Candelaria exhausted all of his sick leave, medical leave and vacation during his recovery, but it wasn't enough time. Still physically incapable of returning and desperate to stay a city employee, he requested and was granted a six-month leave of absence.
"But when you take a leave of absence the city stops chipping in its share of your medical insurance. I was paying $1,600 a month for medical insurance. I was barely making enough to cover my medical insurance."
Candelaria said he had to come back to work -- to ease financial burden and for himself. And there was no easing back into his job. If he was going to come back he had to be 100 percent, mentally and physically. There were no "light-duty" positions available, Candelaria said, and he was needed back in patrol.
He was required to take two physical endurance tests, which included running and heavy lifting. He took two driving tests -- the police driving exam administered to rookies and another where he drove around town for six hours at different times of day and in different flows of traffic.
He also took a neuropsychological test and was questioned by a psychiatrist to see, among other things, whether he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
He passed them all.
"It was heck to get back on -- test, after test, after test, after test," said Candelaria, who's body constantly aches and requires regular home sessions of electroshock therapy and stretching via a traction machine.
Entering his 11th year on the force, Candelaria's working a day shift for the first time in his career. He was a graveyard officer before but he said he wanted to work days so he could ease back into the ebb and flow of police work. And so his family wouldn't worry as much.
John Paul Martinez, the driver who turned in front of Candelaria, pleaded guilty to driving under the influence last year and served 60 days on home arrest. Court records show Candelaria was cited for careless driving, to which he pleaded guilty to in return for a six-month deferred sentence, meaning his guilty plea and citation are removed from his record if he's not ticketed again before May.
"If I was in the wrong, fine. But the thing is -- I don't remember. I don't remember where I was going," Candelaria said.
Judging by his regular laughter and smile, Candelaria's glad to be back to work. He said he's a different cop now in the sense that he's more cautious, but he still has the instinct to "always catch the bad guy."
"I can still catch the ones half my age," Candelaria said, laughing. "I caught a 20-year-old the other week. We only ran half a block, but I caught him."
The youngest of nine siblings and a college graduate with bachelor's degrees in social work and sociology/criminology, Candelaria could've gone back to past jobs in social services, counseling and domestic violence advocate groups.
But being a cop, he said, is his life's work.
"This is who I am."
