Willoughby Hills — It was an award for bravery they would rather not have had to earn.
But Willoughby Hills police officers Cory Planisek and Craig Anderson were beyond brave on September 28 when they got the call for a guy high on drugs at Classic BMW.
Timothy Schmidt shot both of them shortly after they arrived.
Thursday in Court, Anderson pointed to Schmidt and said emphatically, “You tried to kill me you son of a b***h. You shot my partner and I over a lousy traffic warrant."
Thursday, Schmidt was sent to prison for 44 and a half years without possibility of parole.
Officers Planisek and Anderson left court and went right back to work, protecting and serving in Willoughby Hills.
"You just move on with it. what else are you going to do?" Anderson asked Channel 3 Photojournalist Raquel Hagman from behind the wheel of his police cruiser.
Back to work and determined to put ‘that day’ in the rear view mirror.
That day in September when a veteran and rookie officer went to work and almost didn't come home.
That day when the guy who shot them was arrested at Classic BMW and went to the hospital only to have the audacity to do a live podcast from his hospital bed saying,
"If I had the same choice I'd be like of course I'm not going to take my gun with me I'm a ****** felon. I knew I had warrants in like 5 different cities. I just literally panicked because I'm on that much opiates"
"Oh! It was infuriating. One good thing is he incriminated himself," said Anderson on the day Schmidt went to prison to stay until 2063.
On the day Officer Cory Planisek, who was married the month before he was shot, goes home again to an especially grateful wife.
Officer Craig Anderson does the same.
A husband and father of three, his family his first love, but the pledge to serve, the promise to protect, are a close second.
"This is my career. This is my life. This is what I love to do," said Anderson, having walked right up to that thin blue line…and lived to tell about it.