A Contagious Smile Podcast
A Contagious Smile is a powerful platform dedicated to uplifting and empowering special needs families and survivors of domestic violence. Through heartfelt stories, we shine a light on the journeys of extraordinary individuals who have overcome unimaginable challenges. Their triumphs serve as a testament to resilience and strength, inspiring others to rediscover their own inner light. Each episode features candid interviews with survivors, advocates, and experts who provide valuable resources and insights to support those on their own paths to healing and empowerment. Join us as we celebrate the power of resilience, the beauty of shared stories, and the unstoppable spirit of those who turn adversity into hope. Let us guide you in rekindling your spirit, because every smile tells a story of courage and transformation.
A Contagious Smile Podcast
Beyond Limits: The Remarkable Journey of America's First Amputee Motorcycle Cop
Mark Wright's story redefines what's possible after traumatic injury. As the first amputee motorcycle officer in United States history, Mark demonstrates that our physical limitations are often far less restrictive than our mental ones.
When Mark crashed his motorcycle after a late-night shift, hitting a disabled vehicle with no lights, his world changed forever. Multiple compound fractures left his left foot "like it went through a meat grinder." Despite doctors' attempts at limb salvage, Mark knew from his Marine Corps experience that amputation was inevitable. What happened next stunned everyone—from amputation in March to full police duty by December, and eventually qualifying for the elite motorcycle officer position, a feat many thought impossible.
"Our minds are our only limit," Mark explains, crediting his extraordinary recovery to mindset and exceptional support from his department. Unlike organizations that might sideline an amputee, Mark's colleagues embraced his return, even modifying equipment to accommodate his prosthetic leg. This partnership between personal determination and institutional support created the perfect environment for success.
Mark approaches life's challenges with remarkable humor and perspective. His license plates read "I'm on my last leg" and "It only cost me a leg." When people stare or ask questions, he uses these moments as teaching opportunities rather than sources of frustration. His philosophy is refreshingly simple: "My foot ain't going to grow back, so why waste emotional energy stressing about it?"
Whether you're facing your own physical challenges or simply need inspiration to overcome life's obstacles, Mark's journey reminds us that our perceived limitations often have little to do with our actual capabilities. Connect with Mark through his social media if you're struggling with similar challenges—he's made it his mission to help others realize they too are unstoppable.
Good evening and welcome to another episode of Unstoppable. I am Victoria with my amazing, wonderful husband. It's like the redhead and the redneck.
Speaker 2:Howdy y'all.
Speaker 1:I'm so happy to have another amputee with me on this episode tonight because my husband, mark, makes fun of me and says some of the meanest things. I'll wait till you're not drinking because I don't want you to. He'll say stuff like we'll play cards and he'll say something like oh, you lost your hand Right, or I didn't want to go out to a store or anything right after and I like lifted up my nub and he goes is it half off? I mean, these are you know and.
Speaker 1:I have the best sense of humor because, like, right before I go in for any of my operations, I always tell my doctor you're going to leave me in stitches, but you're going to get on my nerves, right, and I mean these are things that I do. But to have another fellow amputee with me who is amazing, I'm so excited to have mark with us. His name is mark wright, senior. He is the first and only I'm so excited he can motorcycle officer ever in the united states like this is just amazing. I was so excited when I found him. You can tell I'm a little excited because I was like oh, brother, and all of us have law enforcement background you were a Marine. Thank you for your service. My husband was Air Force and it's just to know that I have you coming on here. Congratulations on not giving up, for reaching your goal, for doing all that you do. I am just so glad you're here. I guess he's glad too, but thank you so much for being here with us tonight.
Speaker 3:Oh, it's my pleasure Whatever I can do to get the word out there that our minds are only limit.
Speaker 2:There, you go.
Speaker 1:You hear, that, did you hear that. That is a great book, title Awesome.
Speaker 2:So you started on your book. No no not, I'm a dumb jarhead man. There ain't no writing unless it's in crayon. Hey, that might be. Uh, you know, put in great crayon. See how many jarheads read it even broken crayons make beautiful pictures.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely so I spent, uh, 13 and a half years in law enforcement work. Um, I was a police officer out right out of the Air Force and then I went to become a private detective, sheriff's deputy inside the jail and then finally a K-9 officer. During my police officer years six years there I got an opportunity to. One of my part-time jobs was to escort funerals, and of course, you do that on a motorcycle. So you buy your motorcycle Harley Davidson, of course and then you start training.
Speaker 1:How do you know he has a Harley? You don't know. I know whether he does or not, but you don't know if he has a Harley. No self-respecting officer would have anything to add, because how do you know? He has a Harley.
Speaker 2:You have a Harley, don't you?
Speaker 3:Not anymore. I recently sold it and bought a new one. Not yet I actually sold it to buy a BMW because I've only ridden Harleys my entire life, so I actually crashed. That's how I lost my leg, was in a motorcycle crash. I was on my road glide, so I had a new bike before I had a new leg. In a motorcycle crash, I was on my road glide, so I had a new bike before I had a new leg. Bought a brand new cvo road glide. It was beautiful, rode it for about a year and that's where I was like I didn't want to go to the motors academy but our department only uses bmws. So I actually got rid of my harley, got a bmw, so that's what I've ever ride my. I got an adventure bike, so I got that. But my wife has said it's only a matter of time now before I get rid of this and put a Harley back in my garage.
Speaker 1:She knows. Can we talk about the day that this happened? Yeah, so you were coming home from work and you were obviously in an accident. Can you kind of tell everyone what happened?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So it was actually a crazy day Working second watch where I'm supposed to be off at midnight but of course we don't control what calls we go to and we had a report of a traffic collision where there were small children that had popped out of the trunk of this car. So we all respond. Turns out the driver of the vehicle was the children's father, who had overdosed. Right after telling his kids it was okay for them to hide in the trunk because they were going to surprise mom. They were picking mom up and they were going to surprise him. So kids got in the trunk. He took some sort of drug that OD'd. He went across a couple lanes of traffic, crashed, kids popped out. They were uninjured, thank goodness. So we we long story short. We were going to arrest him for DUI child endangerment in the whole nine yards, but because of the crash and the OD he was going to be stuck in the hospital for a long time. So my leadership decided hey, just we'll do a notify warrant, we'll arrest them later. Just go ahead and come back and deal with the paperwork. We'll take care of all the other stuff tomorrow.
Speaker 3:So get back, finally get out of work at three o'clock in the morning. Jump on my Harley. It's my personal bike, I've been riding for years and years and years. Jump on my bike, start heading home. I live about 55 miles away from where I work and it's mostly interstate, so I jump on the interstate doing interstate speeds. Next thing, you know, I'm going around a dark corner, going through what I thought was fog, because we're right here on the coast in Southern California we get a lot of fog from the ocean. Well, as I'm going through it through this turn, I started realizing I'm smelling coolant. What I was smelling was the coolant from a car that had wrecked out and right when it clicked what it was, I saw out of the corner of my eye pieces of the car and I was able to look through the fog debris that I was going through. That's when I noticed the outline of the car, realized it was too late, impacted the car broadside, basically because it had no lights on. I couldn't see it. So I hit it. I was moving. Pretty good Hit it, but luckily my Marine Corps training. I was a crew chief in the Marine Corps. I used to fly on helicopters, so I had a split second. I grabbed my shoulders, tucked my chin, ejected, flew for quite a while, rolled skid, luckily never lost consciousness.
Speaker 3:Some angel had stopped his vehicle when he saw my bike explode. He stopped because he knew that I'd be somewhere. So he comes running over to me because I started screaming out just to see if anybody had stopped screaming for help. And he comes over and he's like hey, I already called 911. Don't worry, they're coming.
Speaker 3:I know that California Highway Patrol is the one who responds to crashes and they're not always very fast. And I knew my leg was pretty messed up because I could just tell. So I told him. I said hey, call 911 back and I want you to relay word for word exactly what I tell you. So he gets them back on the line. I give them my police ID number and I give them the code for officer down 1199. And he kind of went back and forth a couple of times hey, they want to make sure you're an officer, what's your ID number? And say, hey, within seconds I started hearing sirens.
Speaker 3:So which was good, because what I didn't realize was I had severed two arteries in my leg because basically what had happened is, when I ejected, everything crumpled up on my left heel so I basically ripped my heel off my foot. I also have multiple compound fractures all below the knee. And then, so yeah, fire got their tourniquet on me. All the cops arrived, got me in an ambulance and got me to the hospital where they tried to do limb salvage for about two weeks, Told them from day one, it's never going to work.
Speaker 3:You know, I did multiple combat tours. I saw Marines getting blown up. I knew what was good and what wasn't good. So I was at peace from day one. Told my wife. I said look, I'm not keeping this foot. I said at the end of the day, the only injuries I had were my left leg, below the knee.
Speaker 3:I had multiple compound fractures. My foot was just looked like it went through a meat grinder. And then I fractured my pelvis as well because I was carrying my gun. And when I hit my gun shattered my right side of my pelvis where I was carrying it. But other than that I was fine, no neck back, nothing. So you know, very blessed, so fast forward. That crash was the 13th of March. The 24th, they finally amputated my leg, went home three days later, unfortunately, got really infected, had to go in for a revision surgery in April. But then that started after lots of infection battling. They thought I had osteomyelitis so I did a lot of IV antibiotics here at the house. But July I got my leg started walking and rehabbing. By the 1st of December I was back at work full duty.
Speaker 1:So, what made you decide to stay on motorcycles and not something else I've?
Speaker 3:been riding longer than I haven't been riding at this point in my life. So I started riding when I was a drill instructor back in 2001. I was living 80 miles from the front gate of where I worked and getting to and from you know it was economic and it was a lot faster, especially here in Southern California. So I started riding 2001 and it was never looking back. So since 2001, I've had one, and at times I had up to three motorcycles, all Harleys, in my garage. So that was a good time. I had a V-Rod, an Ultra Classic and a Rogue Lodge, all in my garage, all in my name.
Speaker 1:So that's, amazing.
Speaker 3:So yeah, classic and a roguelite all in my garage all in my name.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. So, going through the process, how was your department when you went through? And first you were the oldest cadet, which I think is amazing. Rock on, that's awesome, Grandpa and he goes and honor grad.
Speaker 3:I was the honor grad at the same time. Oh, good deal.
Speaker 1:Did you get more support or more slack from some of the other?
Speaker 3:No, my department has been absolutely amazing. There's a lot of people who have issues with the departments they work for. I'm the opposite. They have been nothing but supportive and amazing. They've done everything they could to help me succeed, even when it was time for me to go on full duty. I brought a letter from my doctor at the VA who cleared me for full duty and they didn't even question it. They said do you believe you're ready? And I was like, yeah, I'm ready.
Speaker 3:Like and like you know, the, the chief of our department, was in constant communication with me and my wife the whole time I was in the hospital. Like, especially coming from the Marine Corps, like we've dealt with tragedies in the Marine Corps, like how we take care of families. And my wife will be the first to admit like wasn't expecting the, the support from the blue side. Like, like what we got. Like she's like wow, at times it was a little overwhelming for her. She's like I need a minute to breathe. Like y'all need to, y'all need to. Let me go for a minute.
Speaker 3:But no, yeah, my department's been nothing short of amazing. And then, even when I told him I wanted to go out to the motors Academy, they went out and they got a thumb shifter for me that they're like hey, we're going to buy this and we're going to outfit a couple of motorcycles so that way it makes it easier for you to shift. Turns out it's not compatible with BMW. So they found this out like a week before the Academy was supposed to start. So they're like hey, man, sorry, we're trying to make this accommodation for you, but it's just not going to work. So do you want to wait to go to the Academy until we find something that works? I was like no, how about you? Just let me try to ride the motorcycle as it is. They're like do you think you can? I was like let me get on it and find out. And there we went, we went on, we went on a ride, and they're like he can actually do it.
Speaker 3:I was like yeah, I can, it's all state of mind yeah they were cracking up because I had to make some adjustments. So I literally had an Allen wrench with me and we went and rode for a little bit. I was having problems. So I popped the foot off and turned it in a little bit more towards the foot peg, screwed it back on. They're like that is so crazy. I was like, all right, let's try this.
Speaker 1:And through trial and error, we got it. Has your prosthetic come off at all while you were riding?
Speaker 3:Not my work bike. The day I was bringing my BMW home because at that point I was in suction suspension the whole time and, for whatever reason, I wasn't wearing the outer sleeve the suspension sleeve with it. So I went down, got the bike and I'm riding it home and of course it's rush hour traffic and it's a back country road. I went to reposition my foot on the foot peg and the whole left leg just slides off, boom falls in the middle of the street and the cars are just snaking around it Like it's a dead dog in the roadway and I'm sitting around this brand new bike that I just brought from a dealership and I can't even. It's like if I get off the bike I'm gonna have to drop it because I have no left leg to put the side stand down.
Speaker 3:So luckily I was. I flagged some people down. They're like do you need help? I'm like yes, can you bring that to me, cause I can't get off my bike? I was like that's my leg, do you need help putting it on? I was like so it's a mechanical lock, it shouldn't fall off.
Speaker 1:Yes, I have kids that will look at me and I'll be like I'm Captain Hook's sister. They think that's really super cool. Yes, that is super cool. So you were only hospitalized for three days for your amputation.
Speaker 3:No, I was in almost just short of two weeks because I crashed on the 13th, I crashed on the 13th, I crashed on the 13th and the amputation was on the 24th. So I was every day, or every other day I was going in for another surgery. I think I had close to 12 surgeries.
Speaker 1:After your amputation how long was it until they took you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, once I got the amputation, I was done, I was out like I'm going to give you a good laugh.
Speaker 1:How long do you think I was in when I got my arm amputated?
Speaker 3:Post-amputation Post Stop it.
Speaker 1:Whatever you're doing, stop it.
Speaker 3:A couple days? I have no idea.
Speaker 1:Go ahead.
Speaker 2:That night.
Speaker 1:I got amputated and I went home that night and I took off everything so I could see it.
Speaker 3:Nice.
Speaker 1:I actually took out all my own stitches.
Speaker 2:This is the curse of a redhead, I swear.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I took out all my own stitches and my surgeon is like, how do you take out your own damn stitches with one arm? Because I mean, he's like I've actually tried this and I don't know how you do it, and I'm like, well, you have a heavy hand, I'm not, I'll do it. So I did it and I've never taken a single pain medication, I've never got one pain med and nothing. And so I was so excited when I was learning about you and it was like your brain is what your limit is, like you know, you can, you can do anything you put your mind to. And I was like I have got to talk to him because so many people give you more like sympathy and they're like, oh, you know, you can't do anything anymore.
Speaker 1:I tie my own shoes. I open a bottle, you know, I wipe my own ass. Nice, I, I, you know, like exactly my husband's, like who tied, tied your shoes. I did, you know, I I won't let it stop me. It might slow me down a little bit, but I'm still going to do it. I mean, where is? How did you get to where you are in your mind, where it's like it's limitless. I can do what I want to do. Cause so many people that I've had the pleasure of talking with don't have the mentality that you do about you know this is, this is my limit yeah, I credit a lot of it to my Marine Corps time.
Speaker 3:You know, uh, seeing seeing the Marines coming back and seeing what they're doing, like I've got friends who are are big with Wounded Warrior Foundation, a lot of the other different veterans organizations that are out there, and I'm seeing the stuff that these guys are doing and it's just like you know, you got these guys with no legs that are out surfing and you're like how is that even possible? Like this is crazy. So that's that's very first day in the hospital. That's what I told my wife. I said if I want to go back to work, this will be the fastest way. Just cut it off, let me get a good prosthetic.
Speaker 3:I was like and I'll be fine, like and that's been my mentality ever since and a lot, you know a lot of people like oh man, it's easy. You know you make it look easy and I'm like, yeah, come see me at two o'clock in the morning when I'm hopping my tail to the bathroom. 50 year old man. I said that's, that's when being an amputee a leg amputee sucks, cause you can't just get up and go. You got to put a leg on her, you got to hop. I said so there are downfalls, but you know, those aren't the stories that I tell people all the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, did you ever go through phantom pain? Yeah, I have it.
Speaker 3:Uh it again. Not nearly as bad as some of my friends have dealt with. I quit taking all I. When I left the hospital I wasn't on any pain meds, even after my revision surgery. It was one of them. Like I'm not a big medication guy I never have been, so even I was on. What's funny is I Marine Corps PTSD stuff.
Speaker 3:I've been on gabapentin for years for my insomnia, so it was kind of funny. I'm they're like oh, you're going to start taking gabapentin for years for my insomnia. So it was kind of funny. I'm they're like oh, you're going to start taking gabapentin for your phantom pains. I'm like more, like how much more can I, can I be taken? So I still.
Speaker 3:I take it not as often now because it doesn't even help with insomnia anymore. So it's one of them like every now and then, like when I was going through the motors Academy, I started having a lot of my old medical issues popping up and that the Gabapentin helped with that. But again I haven't taken any in two weeks. So it's one of them Like I'm lucky. Like my partner laughs, he knows when I'm having them, cause I'll start banging my leg off the side of the patrol car door, like cause I always drive. So I'd be sitting there just banging my leg just trying to get those nerve endings, doing something other than making it feel like my foot's on fire or something. But yeah, not nearly as bad, so yeah.
Speaker 1:Can you feel?
Speaker 3:your toes. Toes are. It feels like a hot poker is either going through my heel or like my toes are being crushed by something. Yeah, does the weather affect?
Speaker 1:you too.
Speaker 3:I'm in Southern California. We don't get a whole lot of weather change. Okay, fair enough.
Speaker 1:I don't know, have they done either nerve transposition, nerve transfers.
Speaker 3:None of that. Nope, I had a nerve block put in for a couple of surgeries. They did nerve blocks but those were gone after several hours. See, yeah, that's what I've had done. No tens unit, or so I use it, not for the phantom pains, like for all my other issues. Yeah, like, I got a nice tens unit that I purchased years. I used to be a marathon runner, so I used to run marathons almost every single weekend before my crash, so it was like the TENS unit has always been part of my rehab process for for various ailments and issues. So I mean I do use it, but I've honestly never even had it hooked up to my residual limb at all.
Speaker 1:Have they never talked about implanting one?
Speaker 3:No, I get it because I've. It's not one of those things Like when I go to, when I go see my doctor, like he asks how everything is, I'm like I'm fine, like yeah, every now, and then I get it, but it's nothing so unbearable that I can't get to go away within a few minutes. So I don't feel like it really impacts me enough to have to worry about pursuing anything else.
Speaker 1:How else has your life changed since you ended up losing your leg?
Speaker 3:Honestly, it's only gotten for the good. Like I've had so many cool things happen because, like when, after I went in for my revision surgery, my wife was in the waiting room and she saw an ad for one of the local solar companies out here and every every major hot, like 4th of July, memorial Day, veterans Day they gift a warranted veteran a complete solar system. They're like, oh so, just go online and nominate whatever veteran you think is worthy. And my wife's like huh, so she's sitting in the waiting room waiting on me, she submits this thing and next thing, you know, three days later, hey, we've selected your husband to be the recipient for this year. So, yeah, 4th of July that year, you know, I didn't even have a leg yet. They had a big old media crew out here and I got an 18 panel solar system. And you know it wasn't because of the crash. But had it not been for the crash, my wife would have never seen it to nominate me for it. Seen it to nominate me for it, stuff like that. You know, the recognition by the department for, for you know, one coming back to full duty and going back out on patrol and then now completing the Motors Academy. You know I've talked at our prayer breakfast for the law enforcement. You know, told my story for that.
Speaker 3:Like I've met so many cool people and even where I go get my prosthetics made, this guy the guy who makes my leg specializes in very high activity amputees.
Speaker 3:So he deals with a lot of military, special forces, foreign forces, like he's had several Ukrainian soldiers come over, soldiers from the Republic of Georgia coming over. He deals with a lot of Paralympians and stuff like that. So like, and I'm meeting all these people like just on a regular basis, albert Lynn, who's on the National Geographic channel, he goes, he goes to my prosthetist, met that guy. Like I've met some cool people and they just reinforce that our mind is our only limit and it's like get out there and spread the word to these people, like quit feeling sorry for yourself and just get out there and do what you want to do. You know, I've said it from day one the only two things in life we control are our attitude and our behavior, and those directly impact everyone around us. So why not try to find something positive you know that you can focus on instead of the negative, because the negative stuff we can't control.
Speaker 1:So I want to ask you, help me here in regards to the fact that I have the most amazing soulmate ever. Stop it. The day I met him actually I was hazing him His FTO I knew and he asked me if I'd haze him and I said, oh crap, the minute I met him I knew I was an instructor at the academy and I knew I was in trouble. And um, anyway, if you could give him some advice man to man, former law enforcement, military everything because he doesn't understand like I want to sweep, and sweeping is one of the hardest things for me in one hand.
Speaker 3:Right, I can't hear you.
Speaker 1:Like I want to do sweeping, like I want to sweep the house, and my husband is like, let me do that and I'm like I can do it Now. It does take me quite a bit longer, but I still want to do it. So if you could give my husband some advice man to man about you know things that he would maybe understand better. What would you say to a spouse of someone who isn't an amputee?
Speaker 3:Let them figure out what they, what their limits, are Like. Let you know, until we make that decision for ourselves, we're going to want to do stuff. You know, all like before I even got a leg, when we had that whole production crew coming out, I was convinced I was going to help to do stuff. Before I even got a leg, when we had that whole production crew coming out, I was convinced I was going to help my wife clean, and it wasn't until I was falling flat on my face, busted my face up. She's like will you listen to me now? Okay, yeah, but we still want to.
Speaker 3:You know, it's hard, though, because even my wife, she, she helps people with special needs on a regular basis. They do independent living services for people with disabilities to get them out on their like. I don't, I say supportive living, and she corrects me every time but that's not what it is. So, but she's built her career off of helping people and she's oh, let me do this, let me do that, and it's like time out, let me figure it out. You know, let me, let me deal with it. And that's where you know I don't know me, cause I'm the guy that it's easier for her to say, okay, you got it, whereas you know cause, we are men, we want to, we want to be fixtures.
Speaker 1:So right, you know, the thing is is like tying my shoe. I've learned to do it myself. Sweeping is so challenging for me. But he's like I'll do it and I'm like, no, let me do it. It takes me a lot longer, yes, but there's certain things that you know. I tell him I've got to figure out how to do this. Let me do this Like stirring you can't hold the pan while you stir.
Speaker 1:There's just certain things you can't do. And I say that to and I actually have. I'm paralyzed on part of it and the nerves are gone. So I say to my husband you know, let me do this. I love you with all my heart and soul. But I don't think, because he's never really got the chance to talk to somebody else who is, you know, an amputee like we are. So for him to understand that it we're learning how to do things new, we have to learn how to do everything over that we're learning how to do things new. We have to learn how to do everything over Like I had to learn how to do everything that you could imagine over again, and I want to be able to say I can. I can do this.
Speaker 3:And that's where I say like my left foot, like the heck do you, besides standing and walking, what else do you need a left foot for? Like that, exactly like I could tell my friend Javi with the with the arm issue like do, like a hand, that's, that's a whole new lifestyle. Like you really do have to learn how to redo so many things in life. That's for so, like I say, being a leg amputee, it's, it's nothing. Like I won't say it's nothing, because we do have our challenges, but it's not like losing a hand. I had surgery on my hand at one point and I remember the whole time it was my dominant hand. I'm in a cast Wiping your own butt. Like I got to relearn this, like it was so awkward. Now you're permanently like that and it's like holy crap. That's what I told him.
Speaker 3:No pun intended Guy's hands down much harder than we have it.
Speaker 2:So I want to piggyback off that. When you have on your prosthetic okay I don't know if a lot of folks know this, but when you're on a motorcycle, the left side is your shifter, you've got gears that you operate with your, basically your toes, okay, the, the toe of your boot, okay, and it's, it's. It's more of a feeling, you know, unless you hear the rpms, like not every time you're going to hit the gear, not, I mean, I've been on so many motorcycles over my years you're not going to hit it every single time. And when you hit that gas, that that accelerator, you hear the RPM drop. Oh, let me pull the clutch and then pop it back into gear. You cannot feel that, can you? So you have to.
Speaker 3:Well, that's what's weird, especially with the prosthetic is, as time goes on, I can feel when my foot so I can't like there's no feeling down there, but I can sense when there's something under my toe or under my heel. I can feel like the way the foot is sitting on the foot peg, and so what I have to do is I can feel how it's sitting on the foot peg, and just what I have to do is I can feel how it's sitting on the foot peg and just from, basically, muscle memory, I know that where it's out on the foot peg it's in a good position to work. When I so I basically lift up at my hip, so I lift, I lift my whole leg up at once and that's how I shift it. Just the sole of my boot catches that gear shift and then when I have to shift down, I just kind of clumsily just push it down, just jam it down on that shift peg and that's how I do it.
Speaker 3:But what's weird is I do have some sort of feeling when it's in the right spot or in the wrong spot, and it's all because of how the prosthesis is fitting onto my residual limb. It's so weird trying to explain that to people who aren't amputees. They're like you can feel it. I was like yes and no, like I can sense that there's something there. You know, I don't know what it is, but I can tell you that there's something there. So it definitely helps, like my brain is learning as time goes on, all those little nuances with the prosthetic.
Speaker 2:Now one more thing here as nuances with the prosthetic. Now one more thing here as cops riding bikes. We rode in tandem. I don't know anybody else who rides in tandem. Mirrors touching almost, that's right. How are other officers with you on that? Is that 100% trust still there?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, no, we went right after we took our final riding exam. We took a long ride and almost everyone from the section went with us and we went riding through the mountains here in Southern California. It's very difficult and we were side by side the majority of the time and the guy who was right behind me, uh, who's been on, who's been in the motor section for several years, commented afterwards. He's like hey, I only saw you miss shift a couple times. He goes, but he's like you recovered every single time like it was never a safety issue, because that's crazy.
Speaker 1:He's like welcome to the unit like right, wow, yeah, it's awesome yeah, have you ever worried about when you do like a pullover, if somebody got out and gave chase? Do you ever worry about how you would proceed?
Speaker 3:No, because it's a lose-lose for that individual, like I've. Prior to going to the motors, I you know I was out on patrol for two and a half years and I've been in some foot chases. Like I said, it's a lose-lose. If they outrun me, oh good for you. You outran the one-legged cop and when I catch them it's bro, you just got caught by a one-legged cop. So it's a lose-lose for them. They get taught crap too, regardless.
Speaker 2:When did they get in the block? Oh, you got called by officer, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I had a 20-year-old kid a couple weeks ago. Matter of fact, this is the prosthetic I was wearing. I don't know if the camera will show it, but I've got a bunch of scrapes on it. Where's my camera? A bunch of scrapes on it and I had the prosthetic for all of like two days, but this 20-year-old kid decides he wants to fight me on these concrete steps.
Speaker 1:Oh no.
Speaker 3:So after I got him into handcuffs and in the back of my patrol car, all the other officers are like bro, like you just picked a fight with probably the worst cop alive to fight, like this dude did 25 years in the Marine Corps, like you're not going to win in a fight just because he's just too darn stupid to lose, I said. And then we charge him with felony vandalism for the damage he did to my prosthetic.
Speaker 1:You just want to take it off and say you're an idiot. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I was like, bro, you just got beat by a 50-year-old one-legged man. Come on now, You're 20. You should be ashamed of yourself Like, come on now, you're 20. You should be ashamed of yourself. There's no shame in our game. We will talk crap every possible opportunity we can. That's why I said if they run from me, it's a lose-lose for them Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what do you think is going to be next for you? Because everything you've done, you're just soaring through it. So what's next?
Speaker 3:Honestly, the motors unit was where I ultimately wanted to go, because our department you're not forced to go back to patrol after so many years. We've got guys who have been with the motors unit for over 20 years. Wow, and I don't want to promote. I was a sergeant major in the Marine Corps, which is the highest rank you can be. Like I've been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Now I just I just want to be a police officer and if they're going to pay me to ride a motorcycle, I'll do that until I can retire and collect a second retirement Because, like I said, I'm 50, like fighting 20 year old dudes, it hurts, like I talk a lot of crap, but I was taking, I was rubbing some BioFreeze for days afterwards. Like body just don't hold up like it used to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I get that.
Speaker 2:I had a lot of fights myself when I was sheriff's deputy. Inside the jail you fight a lot.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I bet.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, and it's always the little guys. You know, that was this kid.
Speaker 3:Like he weighs like 130 pounds, soaking wet. Like come on, dude, I'm 200 pounds and I got all my Batman gear on me Like come on now, you ain't never going to win, man.
Speaker 1:How do the kids react to you when they see you?
Speaker 3:A lot of them ask if I'm a real cop Like cause. They can't believe that I'm cause I my my uniform. The department allows me to have my left leg cut off, so the left pant leg of my uniform is cut off the majority of the time I'm out there. So my prosthetic everyone can see it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And it's so. I can, you know, clean, clean my my leg off when it's super sweaty, add socks, as I need to when my limb, uh, loses volume. But a lot of times they're like are you a real officer? Like, yeah, like, yeah, that's. Yeah, that's a real gun too. Yeah, yeah. Like they're like, how can that be? Like, can you run? I'm like, yeah, you want to give it a shot. Like you want to see, but not for the most part. I get a lot of positive, mostly positive comments, uh, because they're like that's awesome. You know, the department trusts you to be able to be out here and, like I said, it's a testament to the department for for having that trust in me and understanding that yeah I can do it so yeah that's amazing, because a lot of departments aren't like that.
Speaker 2:So when I heard about you, Mark, I referenced the movie A Few Good Men.
Speaker 1:No, it's not A Few Good Men, that's Tom.
Speaker 2:Cruise. Oh, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm not going to tell you Cookie, give me my 12.
Speaker 2:Tell me the name.
Speaker 1:No, I'm not telling you.
Speaker 2:I'm 50 years old. I forget Anyway, cuba Gooding Jr, tell me the name. No, I'm not, I'm old, I'm 50 years old. I forget. Anyway, um, cuba good new jr had to pick up, had to stand up in that full suit. Yeah, okay, as an officer as an officer we have to learn how to pick up our bikes correctly. Yeah, okay, civilians don't know how to pick up a bike right. They'll immediately grab the handle and try to. You know these numbers, so were you required to pick up your bike?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's our pre-interview. Before we were even able to schedule an interview, to even think about coming over, they put a bike down on both of its sides. You got to pick it up from both sides all on your own. Put it up on a center stand, walk it forward and backwards on an incline and decline. Show that you can just do that minor stuff before you're even able to go to the academy. And then, of course, the academy being what it is, bikes went down a couple times and there ain't no one there to help you pick it back up so, and you're talking about about a 600 pound bike, a little bit more than yeah okay
Speaker 1:yeah, what do you do personally when you've had those days of frustration? We all get them. So what do you do when you get to that point?
Speaker 3:I guess, honestly, I haven't had that many frustrating days and I mean my biggest frustrating days are the people I couldn't help. Like we had a, we had a lady, we got a multiple radio calls on her. Um, she was just acting super weird. Like I said, we went, talked to her two different times and both times we left she's. I'm just going to bed, I'm sorry. Third time we went to the house was because she jumped off a seventh story, uh, balcony, so that one that that's been my one of my worst days out in the department in over four years.
Speaker 3:Because like, how'd we miss it? Like what the heck? I told my wife I was like this I lost Marines in combat. Like why is this one affecting me more than some of those affected me? Like super lucky, like I really haven't had those bad days because of this. Like my bad days are stuff that are completely out of my control. You know, couldn't get to a call fast enough or something like that. But you know, my wife, we this month will be 31 years married. On the 30th is our 31 year wedding anniversary. We've been together since high school Like we were the story. We're the. Jerry Spr've been together since high school Like we were the. We're the Jerry Springer story with a happy ending.
Speaker 3:Like no one she was 15 when I got her pregnant. Like we should not still be together. Yeah yeah, my first son was born while I was in bootcamp, right out of high school, and here we are. You know, while I was in boot camp, right out of high school, and here we are, you know, 31 years married later and four kids that are adults they're all doing good or four grandkids now, and it's like we're still together and we're still best friends. I mean honestly, like she has really helped me out, like through all this, like physically and mentally. Like she knows what I went through in the Marine Corps. Like she saw me break down because of Julie that's, julie's a bitch. Like she's screwed me up in the head, like every time, like she'll, she knows all about it. Like there's no such thing as oversharing with her, which has really helped out.
Speaker 1:So yeah, how did the rest of your family react? Like your kids.
Speaker 3:It's kind of funny. I asked my wife. I was like my kids took it very hard, like because I got twin daughters. One of them lives in Houston, she's a dispatcher and her boyfriend is Houston PD. Well, they were in town because it was my birthday, so they came to town. Both of my sons live in Phoenix. One of my younger son was actually in town as well for my birthday.
Speaker 3:So after the crash, you're like I'm stuck at the hospital and my wife's driving back and forth and all my kids are like mom, we're going to stay. She's like no, you're not, y'all need to go home. We need to figure this out. But my kids took it really hard. One of my sons ended up quitting his job in Phoenix and moving back here with his family.
Speaker 3:So like some tough love had to happen. Hey, dude, like we got to figure out what our life is going to be now. Like we got to figure out what our life is going to be now. Like we got to figure out what our new normal is. Like we can't be doing this with you, like I got it. You want to be here to help, but kind of like we said, here we got to let us figure it out on our own. Yeah, um, so it was. It was rough, you know, uh, but like I told my kids, like you can't be more worried about this than I am, like I'm not, like I'm going to make a full recovery, like get over it, like this it sucks, but I'm going to you'll, you'll. I told him you'll see, like we're going to be running the turkey trot and in November, like we always do, and we did so, and they're like, oh, great, now he's going to have one more thing to hold over our heads.
Speaker 2:Like, oh, I did the turkey trot on one leg. One thing I noticed that bothered my wife in the very beginning here and sometimes it still gets to her is when these individuals stare and they stare at her and you feel the judgment coming from them. Well, they also say really hurtful things, and that's why kids today, or they say something, you know something stupid, like in the grocery line.
Speaker 1:Oh, great you get behind the one person that's going to take forever to unload your cart.
Speaker 2:And these are regularly aged people. So, with your positive mindset that you have, you know what would you say to? You know new amputees out there. They're going to go through this.
Speaker 3:So, just because of my mentality, I make a joke out of everything. I was in the grocery store. I bought those sock liners with the graphics on there. One's like an alligator, it looks like it's biting down on my leg, and so you know, I'd be crutching through the grocery store. My, my dad actually, who lives in Louisville, kentucky, came out here for a couple of weeks afterwards and, uh, we're just, we're going through the grocery store doing what we do, and all you know, all these kids are staring and looking. I'd tell them hey, this is what happens when you don't eat all your fruits and vegetables mortified, right, and that's you know. I one thing that I. I try to come up with a new reason uh, uh you know people like, oh, what happened?
Speaker 3:one of my favorite ones was I could tell someone was a not trying to get political, but everyone has their own stance on the covid vaccine and I could tell this person was very like they're on their 15th shot. I could tell that this person was very like they're on their 15th shot. I could tell so what happened? I was like COVID vaccine, what I was like, yeah, I took the first dose and ended up losing my leg because of it. Oh my God. I'm like I know it's like you're a terrible human being. I'm like, yeah, well, you know, but so that's what I tell them. I was like have, people are going to look, people are going to stare, but screw them, they don't know what's going on. Don't let them control your life.
Speaker 1:I'm this person that I make light of everything because I'm also deaf. I'm like this is great, I can turn him off. I don't have to hear him. This is fantastic. You go somewhere and it's like just come up and ask me Can I answer a question for you? Most of my body's all scarred up from you know what I went through? And it's like hey, you can come up and ask me and I'll talk to you. It's the adults that are worse than the kids. I was walking around a store and this gorgeous little girl was like what happened to your arm?
Speaker 1:And I said I lost it and she goes mom, I'm going to help this nice lady find her arm and it was like if I could find it in this store, I promise you I'm buying you every toy the store has to offer. So I mean it was just the kids are the greatest and it's just the adults that are like just so crass and rude. And you know they want to stare and it's like it's not going to give you the plague or anything if it touches you. You know, you're okay. It's just some people are just relentless, I mean, and I always make light of it. It's like you know, like I always make this is unstoppable so you can say whatever you want, we're not filtered.
Speaker 1:But like when he would make comments, I'm like no more handouts for you. Like you know, these are all comments, you know, and no matter how many people I deal with, they're like I said you don't understand it is. Being an apg is tough. I mean that's just tough. But to lose your arm I actually was a martial arts instructor and so to lose that and I taught sign language to special needs, so to both, I mean that was like a huge double whammy for me and it messes up your balance. Yeah, so that was really hard and it's like people don't understand that I have to make people laugh about everything, because it makes me feel better to see people smile at the same time.
Speaker 1:But my husband, bless his heart, he's all like, babe, no, I'll carry it, give me that, no, you can't carry that. Or I'm like can't get the door, you know, or whatever the case may be, and it's, I mean, I love him to death for it. But people who haven't gone through something traumatic like the loss of a limb doesn't understand. Like some people I've talked with Mark in the coalition, they are just like they think their life is over. And I'm like you're still here, you know you, you can still function.
Speaker 1:You just learn a different way to do it you know, and so many people don't carry that mentality of life with them. They think it's over because they lost that limb. And it's totally not. You get to do everything a really cool new way.
Speaker 3:Well, and that's why I tell people like you have to check your emotions. Like don't waste your emotional energy on stuff that is completely out of your control. Like I told you, my foot ain't going to grow back, so why am I going to sit there and continue to stress about it? Like it don't matter how much Miracle-Gro I put on that thing, it ain't coming back. Like I ain't Deadpool, I ain't going to sprout some little nub coming out of there. You know as much as I think it'd be cool not going to happen. So how about I focus on what I can control? And that's how I'm going to react to these different situations. Like the people at the stores, the adults you know hey, my eyes are up here, I'm more than just a missing limb people Like I'll call them out on it when I see them. I'm like, do you want you got questions? Like I'll tell you what happened. Like oh, sorry, sorry, sorry man, just tag number.
Speaker 1:When are you going to be driving?
Speaker 3:Well, it's even my license plate. So both of my vehicles I've got, I've got those digital license plates where you can put your own personalized stuff on there. Like my truck says I'm on my last leg, and then my car I got a little sports car and it says it only costs me a leg. So you know, usually when I get out of her people start cracking up like, oh, now it makes sense. So like, yeah, I'll make light of it.
Speaker 1:You know, for my amputation I had them wearing shirts that you know. My wife said but yout warrior, and it was like it cost me an arm and a leg, but I'm a great negotiator. That's it. For every christmas I do gingerbread cookies but they have one arm missing because I think that's great. You know you can't laugh about it. You're not amputated. What is wrong with you? Go get a hug somewhere, right, just go get hugged. Yeah, they need a hug and a smile. Why are you laughing at me like that? See now, but you've heard it from someone else that we just have to do our thing Until you fall flat on your face.
Speaker 3:I've got the ring video because I've got cameras all around my house. My wife comes out. She looks at me. I'm on crutches spraying down our concrete patio. She's like what are you doing? I'm like I'm going to help, okay. Next thing, you know, the crutch goes boom and I'm like bam, right on my face. She didn't even try to help. She's like you good?
Speaker 1:I'm like, yeah, I'm just going to lay here for a minute. My ego's over there, my leg is over there, she's like damn it.
Speaker 3:He's like. I told you Like, yeah, I'll figure it out we will, we'll get it, we'll get it.
Speaker 2:I think he's a little tougher than you. What yeah, mark? She has probably had 150-something surgeries Damn. Due to past domestic violence and medical foul-ups, she has a titanium jaw.
Speaker 1:No, I have two titanium jaws, top and bottom.
Speaker 2:Shoulder replacement. You know she's still got wires in her arms in her side here. You had something with your hip you don't even know your wife.
Speaker 1:You've got everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know if she falls or something happens, you know it's going to be catastrophic. Yeah, it's going to be far more surgery than what it would.
Speaker 1:My very empty brother. Don't listen to this seriously.
Speaker 2:He took a bath tonight. I heard something fall, you know.
Speaker 1:He comes flying up the stairs. Are you okay, are you?
Speaker 2:okay, what's going on? It was through the door, buddy.
Speaker 1:It was the shampoo bottle that fell.
Speaker 3:Well, that's my wife's biggest concern. So after the amputation, getting in and out of the bathtub realized that's probably going to be the most dangerous thing I do every single day. So we modified my shower now so it's a walk-in shower and there's a bench in there with grab bars. But I'm still too stubborn. I will balance myself on one leg trying to shower. She's just waiting for the day. Knock on wood hasn't happened yet. She's just waiting. She's wood hasn't happened yet. She's just waiting. She's like mm-hmm. She's like I know it will. She's like it's not going to feel good because that's a tiny spot. You know, like you said, we just cross that bridge when we get to it.
Speaker 1:You know, like when I first drove, he's like how are you doing the turn signal? How are you doing this? How are you doing that? I do it. I don't have any modifications, I got this. You know they're like oh, do you want the vehicle modification where it's on this? No, you know, do you want? No, you know. I mean it's like, don't treat me like I'm like a little glass jar and your hands are full of soapy water, right, and that you're afraid you're going to drop me because I'm tough. I mean, you know, and I'm like hey, I all my replacement parts, I'm all replaced, my parts are replaced. So I told him, when I get to be like 70 or 80, you just have to send me through a like a car wash of WD40. Like, you know, that's it. That's all he has to worry about. And I'm like I don't have to worry about, you know, all my parts are breaking of this or breaking that, because it's already been fixed. Like I say a lot of it will be under warranty.
Speaker 3:It'll just get replaced anyways.
Speaker 2:Let us know in the future if you decide to write a book or you think we can help.
Speaker 1:Absolutely you should. We would love to talk with you. We have something called the Stucco Squad and Stucco is my service dog, my sweetheart, and we have created the stucco squad. I'd love if, when we're not recording, to send you some for the department. We have stickers and and we came up with, uh, like bracelets that, oh, he has his own, and so if you're in the hospital or something happens, they can't, they're not going to make you take it off, it's not metal, and it just reminds them how amazing they are, just kids in general. We do classes for them but and it's all free, there's, there's no cost to any, to anybody, but it reminds them that they are amazing.
Speaker 1:And you know, and when you go to a call the domestic, which is the most dangerous call to go on, but you know anything involving a kid you know it's so scary for them as it is, and then we give them a bracelet, we give them a VIP Stucco Squad membership card where they're just automatically in there. They have their own private Facebook group and it's a place for kids to feel valued, heard and welcomed and loved. And you know we have a bunch of other organizations that incorporate it and we would love, you know to to talk with you off of the recording. Get that out there for your department too, because these kids really need to learn, especially in today's time with everything that's going on. It's, it's crazy. It's crazy. I mean, have you had to deal with any school shootings personally?
Speaker 3:Thank God, no. Yeah, Thank God, no. We get a lot of threats where we're going. We work very closely, especially my last assigned area, my last service area that I had. We had several schools and they were pretty rough schools for downtown San Diego, pretty rough schools for downtown San Diego. So lots of mental health professionals being called in talking to these kids, getting them, you know, psychiatric evaluations, but luckily nothing has occurred that they got to Knock on wood.
Speaker 1:Why do you think there's so much more violence today from a law enforcement point of view than there was when we were all in school?
Speaker 3:I think it's the lack of respect just for our fellow humans. You know I don't want to be that 50 year old guy, aren't you stinking video games? But we're desensitized to violence. You know, 100 were all these games and the music and the movies. We are so desensitized. You know that that was part of our training in the marine corps was the desensitization to all this violence. And now it's like we don't have to do that anymore because we're already desensitized to it, like there is no value for human life anymore and it's it's holy crap.
Speaker 1:Like what the heck is wrong with people right, it's awful, and I mean they, literally kids are playing 20 hours a day, and when they're not playing, they the reality of our life is not their reality, like to them. In their mind, their real world is video games like they don't comprehend the real world of life.
Speaker 1:Like and I've been dealing with this one family we talked about off air and they have kids that are under the age of seven, who have phones that they're addicted to and if their their phone dies, like the world stops. I have to get my charger. Why isn't my phone working? I have to get back on the phone. I don't and I'm like, why do you have a phone and you're seven? Like, why are you on an? Why are you playing video games that involve killing and these brutal things? You see people just dismembering body parts on these games and these kids love it and it's like, and you wonder why the violence level is where it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, I 100% agree, like I said we are so I 100% agree, like I said, we are so desensitized. But that's, you know, it's the world we live in now and it's unfortunate, like just yesterday, watching all the Oklahoma City bombing stuff, like that stuff didn't happen, like that's why that was tragic in and of itself. But now it's like something like that would happen today. We wouldn't be surprised, like we were back then. No we would just be like yeah, it's like holy crap, Terrible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's horrible. I mean, I really think and we've even seen where school now are carrying bulletproof backpacks and it's like when did you ever think we would get to that point?
Speaker 3:yeah, I was my partner. We got because we how long we've been out of the department we got issued new vests and he was all excited he was using his old ballistic panels as inserts for his kids backpacks. I was like that is so crazy to think like that. That's the world we live in these days.
Speaker 1:It's like go on and then when you see resource officers that are running away and not going in to help these kids and teachers.
Speaker 3:Or, in our case, they're being cut from the schools.
Speaker 2:So they're not even there to begin with. Wow.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, at one point they didn't want any police. You know I grew up with metal detectors in my school just because of where I grew up, cause it was. It was a very high crime area where I grew up outside of Chicago so I mean I was used to having uniformed police officers. You know we were getting scanned like bad stuff happened at school, but that's just because of where we lived. Now I mean it's at a whole new level now where these kids it's like shoot. Just because of that Florida shooting the other day that deputy the adult kid had access to mom's gun.
Speaker 2:It's like holy crap.
Speaker 1:They verify where all my stuff's actually locked up, you know yeah, over on the east coast over here, there actually was where, uh, a kindergartner shut somebody at school and it's just like, are you serious? Like that's just. I can't fathom that. That's the world that we're in, that's crazy.
Speaker 2:Mark, I want to thank you for your time coming on our show today. My pleasure, thanks for the invite.
Speaker 1:I would love to have you come back, absolutely.
Speaker 3:I just hang out at my house if I'm not working. I got a six-month-old grandbaby here.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 3:My wife's loving this right now, because she gets her all to herself.
Speaker 2:Everyone here the contagious smile. Thanks Mark Wright for coming on the show. Senior.
Speaker 1:And for all of his dedication for what he has done for this wonderful country that's losing hope and changing for the worse.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 3:Thank you all for having me. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:I really do appreciate everything and we will make sure that if you want us to put any links or anything out there for people to be able to get a hold of, you make sure that I get those and I'll put them in the notes for everybody as well.
Speaker 3:Feel free Put my social media stuff out there. Like I said, I already get hit up by people out here, and if I could be a resource for someone struggling in another part of the country, I'm all about it. I'm part of our department's peer support program for a reason because I do want to do this to help people.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Well. Stay by one second while we wrap this up. Everybody again for listening and we will see you.
Speaker 2:Bye y'all.
