Dallas Ambush Survivors Remember Ordeal On 1st Anniversary
DALLAS (CBS11) - It is a moment Shetamia Taylor is reminded of daily.
"I knew today was coming, I just didn't realize it would be so painful for me," said Taylor.
She still walking with a limp one year after being shot in the leg during the Dallas ambush.
"There's a lot of hurt and pain behind today," said Taylor. "Just remembering the ordeal. Remembering the reason why I was downtown."
Taylor was rallying against police brutality and was about to leave with her sons when they heard a noise."
"It was just nonstop," said Taylor.
That is when an officer, who Taylor believes was Senior Corporal Lorne Ahrens, gave her a command she will never forget.
"He said he has a gun and get down," said Taylor. "He saved our lives."
As Taylor hit the ground, shielding her son with her body, a bullet went into the back of her right calf, exiting out of her shin.
"I'm alive and I can keep going," said Taylor. "I think of the four Dallas officers and the one DART officer and they can't."
El Centro College police officer John Abbott said his chief's decision to keep officer off the street saved his life.
"Normally we would have been outside, but every cop has that little Spidey sense," said Abbott.
As Micah Johnson tried to make his way into the college, Abbott was hit by broken glass.
"We were within feet of each other," said Abbott. "I just wanted a piece of him. I don't know any other way to describe it."
Abbott Shrugs off what he did and survived. But he said the moment and the support her received after renewed his thirst for law enforcement.
"It just shows me that I'm doing the right thing," said Abbott.
Taylor wants to return to protesting one day. Right now, the memory is still too raw.
"It's changed me more in the aspect of knowing how gentle life is," said Taylor. "Really knowing, feeling and seeing how gently life is."