Chicago Police Captain Wounded In Standoff Returns To Work
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago Police Captain Ed Kulbida returned to work two months after being shot in a violent standoff two months ago that also left another officer injured.
Tuesday he returned to work and CBS 2's Mai Martinez reports it was a warm welcome back for Chicago Police Captain Ed Kulbida at the 7th district Tuesday.
On October 7, some weren't sure they'd ever see the captain again after he was shot twice during a standoff between law enforcement and Indiana fugitive Daniel Brown.
"I ran around the front. I went into the hallway. I saw Officer Murphy. He goes 'he shot at us.' I said 'ok,'" said Kulbida.
Kulbida radioed dispatch to warn other responding officers.
"As soon as I got the word 'don't come to the front. I want my officers to stay out,' I heard a shot and I got knocked down," he said.
Kulbida was hit twice, once in the head, and once in the shoulder.
"I knew I was bleeding bad from the face and my shoulder hurt a lot," he said. "I said to myself, 'you're not going to die. You're not going to go into shock. Calm down.'"
Kulbida also tried to keep the other officers and U.S. Marshals tending to his wounds calm, even as they faced more gunfire as they rushed him out to an awaiting ambulance.
"When I was in ambulance, I called my brother who is a police officer, and I said I got a graze wound. Tell mom and dad and my wife and kid that I got a graze wound because I didn't want them to worry," he said.
It wasn't until he was in the hospital that everyone learned how lucky he was.
"Either one of those bullets could have killed him," said Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.
As for the man charged with pulling the trigger, Kulbida had this to say: "Don't shoot me in the back and be a coward and try to take me away from my loved ones."
Those loved ones include his police family--not just here, but across the country.
"It's fantastic to have him back," said Chicago Police Deputy Chief Leo Schmitz. "Having talked to him, I know he's glad to be back. He's a worker, and he's somebody I really rely on to help me get things done."
"I had police chiefs from Louisiana sending my parents fresh seafood. I had cards and letters from FBI agents and DEA agents and people I don't even know," said Kulbida. "Makes it feel like it's all worth it."
Captain Kulbida has been with the Chicago Police Department for nearly 30years. He says he never thought twice about coming back to work.
