‘It’s a miracle’: SLMPD officer shot on duty heads home after hospital stay

By GABRIELA VIDAL

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    ST. LOUIS, Missouri (KMOV) — A St. Louis Metropolitan Police Officer finally returned home after what doctors and paramedics are calling a remarkably fast recovery in the hospital. “There’s no logical explanation why he’s alive, and he’s talking, and he’s going home. It’s freaking amazing,” said EMS Paramedic Robin Robertson. Officer Colin Ledbetter left the city’s Rehabilitation Institute in the Central West End on Tuesday morning. The 25-year-old was greeted by a crowd of fellow law enforcement officers and procession music. St. Louis City and County have experienced a number of first responder deaths in recent months, but the tone of the procession Tuesday felt a lot different.

“He made it. He pushed through. It’s a miracle, by any stretch of the imagination it’s a miracle,” said SLMPD Sargent Chris Rumpsa. “We’re happy we get to play for him walking out of a hospital instead of in a hearse.”

Ledbetter was one of two officers who were rushed to the hospital on January 26. He and Officer Nathan Spiess were shot on duty in Ferguson when they tried to stop a car connected to a homicide. “To have that much blood loss, from that traumatic of an injury…people who go into cardiac arrest due to trauma situations, only have a one percent chance of living,” said Paramedic Bryce Schindler. “So, it’s a great win for everybody.” Schindler and Robertson were two of the paramedics on scene that day in Ferguson. Lucky enough they were already near the area responding to a welfare call.

“We had like a 50 second response time,” said Robertson. “We pulled up, the officers are running through the backyards on West Florissant with Officer Spiess. So, they pulled the stretcher out, they put him on it. I was cutting his pants leg. I asked him his name, and I hear, ‘Get him off the stretcher. This one is worse. This one is worse.’ And I turned and I look and they were carrying Officer Ledbetter through the backyards. And he looked like he was not alive. His head was bobbing.”

Ledbetter was shot in the groin and in the foot and was in critical condition, while Spiess was shot in the leg. Both were taken to BJC, but Ledbetter’s heart stopped for roughly 15 to 20 minutes before trauma staff in the hospital were able to bring him back. Robertson said every remarkable moment that day worked in saving Ledbetter’s life. “We ended up kidnapping a police officer that just got trapped. He just got trapped in the back, but he was amazing,” said Robertson. “He held pressure. He did compressions. We couldn’t have done what we did if it wasn’t for that officer.” Among the crowd of people who greeted Ledbetter back home Tuesday were other people who were there on the day he was hospitalized. “Often people who’ve have had as long of an arrest as he did won’t come back, but he came back quite quickly,” said Dr. Douglas Schuerer, the Director of Trauma at Barnes Jewish Hospital. “Of course he had to have a lot of procedures to help with the bleeding and other things over time. He recovered from those quite well.” Schuerer, who was the first in his department to take care of Ledbetter, reflected on the work his team did to bring him back to life. “He really had a long down time, and we weren’t as positive he was going to do so well,” he said. “But I think it’s a great time for me to be able to recognize that our team helps patients like this—car accidents, gunshot wounds, stab wounds every day—and we have many people that come and return to function. It’s a nice celebration of our team and what we’re able to do.”

Officers escorted Ledbetter back home to Vandalia, Illinois, where he will continue perform outpatient therapy. Schuerer is hopeful Ledbetter will recover and get to as close to normal as he was before the incident.

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