2018 NJ State PBA
Main Convention
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when Philadelphia Officer Jonny Castro, who was on duty
that night, posted an account on Facebook that generated
more than 50,000 hits and ended with:
It should have been 100 times worse. Not many people
would have survived an ambush like that. He got the drop on
you and had every intention of killing a cop. Whether it was
your training, his lack of training, some divine intervention
or a combination of all three, it simply wasn’t your time. God
was watching over you. You did great last night. You made the
entire department proud of you. You are a hero. January 7 will
forever be your alive day.
With blood filling his lap and splashing onto the street,
Hartnett’s first reaction confirmed it ain’t ending.
“I’m thinking, ‘Go get this idiot,’” he recalled.
Hartnett kicked out the door, pulled his pistol and shot
at Archer. He hit him enough to cause Archer to fall, and
then Hartnett called for backup. Archer made it back to his
feet and took another shot as he was running away that just
missed Hartnett’s head.
When backup arrived, Hartnett told officers, “I’m good.
Go get him.” He had hit Archer enough to slow him down so
that he could be caught minutes later.
Finally, Hartnett looked at his arm and immediately went
for the tourniquet in the trunk of his car. (FYI, after this inci-
dent, his department issued an order that a tourniquet must
now be worn on the duty belt.)
Additional backup arrived and transported Harnett to the
trauma center, which was just minutes away. He saw doctors
and nurses he knew very well from bringing gunshot victims
there on many nights, and when they started cutting off his
clothes, “That was the first time I felt the pain,” Hartnett ad-
mitted.
When he came out of X-ray, he saw a sea of sisters and
brothers lining the hospital hallways. Hartnett flashed the
thumbs-up and went on to spend the next 14 days in inten-
sive care.
The prognosis was not good. The damage left him only
able to push his wrist with his bicep. He was facing a life of
not being able to hold a coffee cup, button his pants or tie
his shoes.
“Think about having that stuff taken away and how it
would change your life,” he submitted to PBA members.
He considered elbow replacement but if he had gone that
way, chances were that he wouldn’t have been able to pick
up his baby, born shortly after the incident. Finally, in an
experimental procedure, a doctor was able to fabricate the
missing part of Hartnett’s humerus out of cobalt-chromium
and titanium using a 3D printer.
That eight-hour surgery was one of 11 he has endured,
and now Hartnett is finally getting back the use of his left
hand. When he reported that he is back on light duty, PBA
members erupted with applause. Here was confirmation
that Hartnett has found the strength to keep pushing for-
ward.
“It really drives it home that at the end of the day, we’re
really doing this for our families,” Hartnett emphasized. “We
may get dealt a bad hand. But it’s up to us to break through
that.”
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NEW JERSEY COPS
■ OCTOBER 2018