Oakland Cop gets it.

[Clogtowner]

Hi y'all - I'm glad the cop is not seriously injured, but I feel for
the shooter. I pass through Oakland regularly and the cops there are
just about the worst I've ever encountered. It was only a matter of
time before retaliation. I guess his Lord saved him.

Police Officer says he's blessed that his badge saved his life
Posted: Dec 28, 2009 8:26 PM CST Updated: Dec 29, 2009 6:39 AM CST
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Badge stops bullet (12-28-09)

OAKLAND, TN (WMC-TV) - This story gives new meaning to the phrase
badge of honor. After all, it is a badge that is credited with saving
Oakland Police Officer Joshua Smith's life, after a man shot him at
point-blank range.

"It felt like someone hit me in the chest with a baseball bat," Smith
said, speaking out for the first time since the shooting on Christmas
Eve.

"I couldn't breathe, I couldn't catch my breath. At that point I was
worried about finding a wound and stopping the bleeding," Smith said.

But there was no wound, and there was no bleeding, thanks to his steel
badge. Officer Smith says it all started at one in the morning
Christmas Eve when he spotted a car weaving wildly on Highway 64 in
Oakland.

He pulled the car with an expired temporary tag over and ordered the
driver to get out for a field sobriety test. The passenger also got
out, and swung a knife at Smith. As Smith subdued the passenger, the
driver pulled a gun out and shot Smith at point-blank range.

"As soon as the shot happened and I fell back, I was thinking, defend,
defend, defend," Smith said.

Smith fired back, the driver screamed, and they took off.

Smith says doctors told him, without his badge, the wound to his chest
could have killed him.

"It could have been where my family was making funeral preparations
instead of my kids opening gifts with their dad and my wife."

Before the shooting, Smith says he didn't even like the badges which
he considered bulky.

"{I said, they} weigh the collar down....It wasn't really just
complaining, it was a complaining statement."

Smith says he got everything he wanted for Christmas.

"My life and my family. Yeah, I got everything I needed. Everything I
wanted."

The company that made the badges heard about what happened. They're
going to put it in a nice box and give it to Officer Smith, so he can
keep it. They do plan to give him another badge.

[Jason]

The police officer did not blame or thank God for saving his life but
instead blamed the badge for his good fortune on Christmas Eve.

[Clogtowner]

Hi y'all - we must therefore assume that badges have the ability to
hand out blessings - just as likely as a god doing it I suppose.

[Jason]

Would it help if you knew that the police officer was an atheist who
also celebrated Christmas with his family?

Jason

PS: I don't know the religious faith or non-faith of the officer.
However, he did not evoke God to explain his good fortune.

[Clogtowner]

Hi y'all - I find it hard to believe that the cop is an atheist as he
used the word "blessed." I don't believe an atheist, (none that I
know) would join the Oakland Police Dept. as a traffic cop.