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Lorain County SWAT officer shot in summer standoff is on the mend

Almost six months later, officer Eugene "J.R." Ptacek is speaking about what it took to get this far.

Sheffield Lake — A Lorain County SWAT officer shot during a standoff in Sheffield Village this summer is on the road to recovery.

Almost six months later, officer Eugene "J.R." Ptacek is speaking about what it took to get this far. The Amherst Police officer is a survivor determined to get back to work, surrounded by a community still holding him up today.

"Up until May, we had never taken a bullet and never been fired upon in 23 years," Ptacek said. "May 31 this year, at 8:45, all bets were off."

The shots came from Martin Robinson, a man holed up in his home, wanted by U.S.. Marshall's on felony warrants.

"It went from a docile environment to rapid gunfire. It was a war zone," Ptacek recounts. Once I realized my left leg was numb, I thought, 'Oh no! I've been shot.'

"It’s an act of God that no one else got hit."

Ptacek was listed in critical condition. He says he was determined to “make a full recovery, if not even better."

Through 54 days in the hospital and long hours of essential therapy, Ptacek says he was “going to get through this, going to stay tough.”

"I developed the mindset that if you asked me to do four, I was going to do eight," he said. "If you said do a minute, I was going to do two minutes. I ended up spending half the time in therapy than expected."

While he did his part, some Sheffield Village kids were doing theirs this summer

"It just popped up in my mind! A lemonade stand! For the officer! To raise money!"

Eight-year-old Trista Rowe, her brother Timothy, and friend Natalie Brown started the movement that raised $7,500, as a matter of fact. They got to meet Ptacek last Thursday, when he was awarded the 2018 Medal of Valor from the state of Ohio.

“He said when [he] was in the hospital going through so many things, when [he] turned on TV and saw [me] fighting for [him] it made [him] fight harder too," Rowe remembers.

Ptacek came home to a parade of people who had his back all along. Blue porch lights popped up on homes as a silent salute to him.

"Those people were becoming passionately involved with someone they didn't even know," he said.

"He is an officer and he helps you be safe," little 7-year-old Natalie Brown said, breaking down how we all feel. "I'm glad [he is] out of the hospital and feeling better and seeing [his] family."

This community that lifted Officer J.R Ptacek left him feeling like "we can move mountains together.

"Many people and the good Lord," he said. "He was instrumental in seeing me through some very dark times."

The lemonade stand kids are happy to have his back.

“Today I learned we ‘have his six,' and he has ours," said 12-year-old Timothy Rowe.

Also not lost on Officer Ptascek is the perspective check after getting shot in the line of duty, and living to tell about it.

“Never give up," he stated. "I would take inventory of and be mindful of what you have instead of what you don't have."

Ptacek is determined to get back to work this summer, on the early side of the 12-18 month timeframe doctors recommended.

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