Out Of Hospital 4 Days After Being Shot, Gary Police Sgt. William Fazekas Recounts Horror, And Fellow Sergeant Who Came To His Rescue
GARY, Ind. (CBS) -- Gary police Sgt. William Fazekas was fired upon 45 times by a suspect this past Monday, but now he is out of the hospital and reuniting with his force.
On Monday afternoon, Fazekas was following a driver who struck a woman, then took off. What happened in the minutes that followed was something he calls a nightmare reminiscent of a movie.
Fazekas also spoke exclusively Friday to CBS 2's Chris Tye.
Only four days after he was shot, Fazekas is amazingly already able to talk about the nightmare in which he was outgunned and in his words, "trapped" at the mercy of a gunman with the upper hand.
And the sergeant stood up with bullets flying and fought back to come out alive.
"I see the assault weapon and I remembered the first round went through the windshield and went by the left side of my forehead. That's why I got peppered – I got scars here with glass," Fazekas said. "That's when I had to duck down, and from there, it was kind of a fight for my life."
Gary Police Chief Brian Evans said shortly before 1 p.m. Monday, Sgt. Fazekas – a 32-year-veteran of the force, was near 5th Avenue and Lincoln Street when he saw one vehicle strike another. Fazekas activated his car's emergency lights, when a man inside one of the vehicles opened fire, shooting Fazekas in the left shoulder.
"Then I knew he was getting closer to me because I could tell the sound was getting closer, so I went to get up," Fazekas said. "When I went to get up is when I was struck in the shoulder, and I knew something was wrong, I felt numbness."
Fazekas was in the process of losing half his body's blood - and some of his focus - when he made a decision.
"People will fight or just sit there and take it, and I wasn't going to take it," he said. "All I could think of was family and friends."
That officer "down" got up.
"I reached over and then I opened the door, grabbed my gun. As soon as I got out, I jumped up, is when I fired two shots, and he dropped his assault weapon; the assault rifle. And when he did, he ups another gun and he's shooting – but now, instead, he starts running at me. I'm thinking, this guy is just crazy," Fazekas said. "That's when I made the split decision – I'm going to fight, I'm really going to fight. So I took off after him and started firing, and that made him change his direction to get away from me and go the opposite way."
The suspect was on the run, and the veteran sergeant was in bad need of care.
"It was nothing but a waterfall of blood just running down," Fazekas said. "I'm thinking, oh no."
He was a block from the hospital when a colleague, Sgt. Donald Briggs, emerged.
"I see officer Briggs. and he was unbelievable," Fazekas said emotionally. "Ripped my coat off, ripped my belt off, put it on me, had me. It was almost like he was a doctor; a medic. It was outstanding what he did."
A makeshift tourniquet got Fazekas to a hospital in Gary, then to the University of Chicago Medical Center in Chicago. He made it with a badly-damaged shoulder, but he made it.
"The ER doctor told me after I was stabilized and that, he said, 'Who did that with the belt?'" Fazekas said. "I said told him it was Officer Briggs, and he said, 'You know, he saved your life.'"
That was Monday. By week's end, we were there for the heartfelt reunion with the whole department who had his back - and the one colleague who came to the rescue, Sgt. Briggs.
"I love you man," Fazekas told Briggs. "You saved my life. No, no, you did - ripping that belt off and doing what you did."
On Wednesday, Lake County, Indiana Prosecutor Bernard Carter announced that Kameron Cooks, 22, has been charged with one count of attempted murder on the grounds that he shot Sgt. Fazekas with a rifle on Monday afternoon.
He was also charged with aggravated battery, and three counts of resisting law enforcement. In addition, Cooks was charged with striking a law enforcement animal.
Evans said Gary police Reserve Officer Daniel Gutierrez – who had been in the area towing vehicles with Sgt. Briggs when he heard the shots - followed the suspect to an abandoned house a short distance away from the scene. A police K9 was able to find Cooks, who had left items in the abandoned home.
Police initially thought there was a second gunman, but they later walked that back.
From his team to the Gary hospital to UChicago Medicine, Fazekas said he was fortunate and deeply appreciative of the care he received.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help Fazekas' family with new costs and setbacks.