times that I felt I would be letting people down if I didn't continue
mentally and physically.”
This drive put Whartenby on the long road to recovery, with the
first major stop taking place on April 9, 2012, when he was fitted
for a prosthetic limb and started in-patient prosthetic training
and physical therapy seven days a week.
A month later, on May 16, 2012, Whartenby returned to work on
modified desk duty, and on April 2, 2014 – two-and-a-half years to
the day since his accident – he retuned to full-duty and was reassigned to his home in the Anti-Crime Unit.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s real; it just feels like a dream,” Whartenby
said of the last three years. “(The Anti-Crime unit) is where I really
wanted to be and then everything was pulled out from underneath me with the accident. But I’m back.”
There is an excitement and passion in his voice when he speaks
about what he has been through since his accident, but that same
passion and excitement comes through when he speaks of the
work he does within the unit.
Some of that work – notably his extracurricular involvement in
an effort to support other amputees to continue their careers in
law enforcement – led Hamilton Township Local 66 members to
select Whartenby for the department’s Officer of the Year Award,
which will be bestowed upon him at an award dinner on April 10.
“(The award is) not just for police work; it’s also what they do
outside the job for community relations,” explained Tim Adams,
a member of the Local 66 committee that reviews nominations
for the award. “Bobby had qualities in both of those aspects.”
Nevertheless, when Hamilton Township Police Chief James
Collins notified Whartenby that he was the recipient of the award,
the officer was shocked.
“It’s difficult to take a solo recognition when nothing we do in
“It’s difficult to take a solo recognition when
nothing we do in this job as police officers is
individual. It’s more of a team sport than anything
I’ve ever been involved in, (and) it is difficult to say
that any one person had a bigger effect than anyone
else. The group as a whole creating a positive
atmosphere to achieve a common goal is
unstoppable. This is an award for everyone who has
supported and helped me through this journey.”
ROBERT WHARTENBY
this job as police officers is individual,” Whartenby emphasized.
“It’s more of a team sport than anything I’ve ever been involved
in, (and) it is difficult to say that any one person had a bigger effect
than anyone else. The group as a whole creating a positive atmosphere to achieve a common goal is unstoppable. This is an award
for everyone who has supported and helped me through this
journey.”
Now, Whartenby gets to wake up each day and go to a job that
he is passionate about, but doesn’t forget about that day when he
was lying in the street unconscious after being thrown off his
motorcycle.
“After my accident, to wake up in a trauma room with my now
fiancée and family, it makes you think twice if not three times
when you do anything you do,” he said. d
www.njcopsmagazine.com
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