SALISBURY, Md.- On February 29th, Wicomico County Sheriff's Deputy Thomas Funk was serving a warrant in Cambridge. That routine task almost turned deadly, when he was shot.
Court filings say 23-year old Tayvon Dobson opened fire, shooting Deputy Funk in the upper arm. Dobson then barricaded himself in the home and held police at bay for three hours.
Deputy Funk survived.
He is now back at the Sheriff's Office on restrictive duty and hoping to return to the field soon.
Wednesday, Deputy Funk sat down with us to relive those tense moments.
He said the morning of February 29th was like any other; he got up, got ready, said goodbye to his wife and daughter and headed off to work. He knew he had to serve a warrant on a criminal with a violent past. He knew there was a risk. He did not know he was about to face death.
"Did I think it would ever end up at that level? No. It's in the back of my mind every time I kiss my wife and daughter goodbye and go out the door but you kind of always hope that it's not going to happen to you," he explained.
Deputy Funk survived.
He is now back at the Sheriff's Office on restrictive duty and hoping to return to the field soon.
Wednesday, Deputy Funk sat down with us to relive those tense moments.
He said the morning of February 29th was like any other; he got up, got ready, said goodbye to his wife and daughter and headed off to work. He knew he had to serve a warrant on a criminal with a violent past. He knew there was a risk. He did not know he was about to face death.
"Did I think it would ever end up at that level? No. It's in the back of my mind every time I kiss my wife and daughter goodbye and go out the door but you kind of always hope that it's not going to happen to you," he explained.
"We've been in situations several times before where we've found out the subject inside did have a gun, they just chose to do the right thing and not shoot at the police. It just didn't work out that way."
Deputy Funk said he heard the first gunshots and knew his life was in danger.
"A lot of things went through your head. You're trying to assess the situation, figure out exactly what's going on," he said. "Didn't have much time to think about what had happened, it was more of what I was going to do to react to get out of the situation alive so that I could go home to my family."
Deputy Funk told us he was aware he had been shot almost immediately.
"It's hard to explain what it felt like. There was a level of pain, yes. Most of my pain came afterwards. At the time, your adrenaline is going, you're focused on getting out of the situation."
And instincts took over. Deputy Funk calls it a "natural human reaction to survive."
"At one point, I did know that if I did not get myself out of that room, it was a very, very small room that I was trapped in, that I was going to most likely die there."
Deputy Funk was determined not to let that happen. He smashed through the window of that second story room and jumped to the ground below.
"I have a young daughter at home and a wife and thinking that my daughter would have to grow up not ever truly knowing her father was a horrible thought. A thought that I never want to relive again."
In the ambulance on his way to the hospital, Deputy Funk said he realized he was going to be ok. But in that same moment of realization, he told us he was overcome by fear.
"I think it's a sin that my biggest thought while being transported to the hospital, bleeding in the back of an ambulance from a gunshot wound, was how I'm going to pay my mortgage and how I'm going to feed my daughter."
He is talking about the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office lack of a disability program that almost every other law enforcement agency provides its officers.
"Every other man working on my team that day has a top notch medical disability program. Similar to my teammates, most surrounding police agencies have a LEOPS or equivalent, if not better disability program," Deputy Funk pointed out.
"This was almost a career ending injury for me and I would have been left financially in a position where I have no job, no way to pay my bills and would have most likely lost my house, I wouldn't have been able to support my wife and my daughter, all because I was injured on the job, in the line of duty. I literally would have been left in poverty had I not been able to return to work."
Deputy Funk said the problem is also impacting the Sheriff's Office applicant pool.
"The Sheriff's Office has lost countless of its best applicants due to the fact that almost every other law enforcement agency in the area carries a disability program," he explained.
"Not only is this turnover rate a financial hardship for this county but for Wicomico County to continue to be a safe place to live and work, we need to be attractive to the best potential law enforcement candidates. This is a near impossibility with a sub-par benefits program," he said.
Deputy Funk is hopeful County Council will address the issue.
In the meantime, he humbly shrugs off the "hero" label.
"In my eyes, it's more instinctual and it's more about the people next to you doing the same job that you're doing, putting their lives on the line just like you are. You don't have time to think about being brave," he said.
"Had I not been able to get myself out of that situation, my team that was just down the stairs from me would have had to come up the stairs to get me and that would have been a terrible position tactically for them to be in," he told us.
Deputy Funk said he heard the first gunshots and knew his life was in danger.
"A lot of things went through your head. You're trying to assess the situation, figure out exactly what's going on," he said. "Didn't have much time to think about what had happened, it was more of what I was going to do to react to get out of the situation alive so that I could go home to my family."
Deputy Funk told us he was aware he had been shot almost immediately.
"It's hard to explain what it felt like. There was a level of pain, yes. Most of my pain came afterwards. At the time, your adrenaline is going, you're focused on getting out of the situation."
And instincts took over. Deputy Funk calls it a "natural human reaction to survive."
"At one point, I did know that if I did not get myself out of that room, it was a very, very small room that I was trapped in, that I was going to most likely die there."
Deputy Funk was determined not to let that happen. He smashed through the window of that second story room and jumped to the ground below.
"I have a young daughter at home and a wife and thinking that my daughter would have to grow up not ever truly knowing her father was a horrible thought. A thought that I never want to relive again."
In the ambulance on his way to the hospital, Deputy Funk said he realized he was going to be ok. But in that same moment of realization, he told us he was overcome by fear.
"I think it's a sin that my biggest thought while being transported to the hospital, bleeding in the back of an ambulance from a gunshot wound, was how I'm going to pay my mortgage and how I'm going to feed my daughter."
He is talking about the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office lack of a disability program that almost every other law enforcement agency provides its officers.
"Every other man working on my team that day has a top notch medical disability program. Similar to my teammates, most surrounding police agencies have a LEOPS or equivalent, if not better disability program," Deputy Funk pointed out.
"This was almost a career ending injury for me and I would have been left financially in a position where I have no job, no way to pay my bills and would have most likely lost my house, I wouldn't have been able to support my wife and my daughter, all because I was injured on the job, in the line of duty. I literally would have been left in poverty had I not been able to return to work."
Deputy Funk said the problem is also impacting the Sheriff's Office applicant pool.
"The Sheriff's Office has lost countless of its best applicants due to the fact that almost every other law enforcement agency in the area carries a disability program," he explained.
"Not only is this turnover rate a financial hardship for this county but for Wicomico County to continue to be a safe place to live and work, we need to be attractive to the best potential law enforcement candidates. This is a near impossibility with a sub-par benefits program," he said.
Deputy Funk is hopeful County Council will address the issue.
In the meantime, he humbly shrugs off the "hero" label.
"In my eyes, it's more instinctual and it's more about the people next to you doing the same job that you're doing, putting their lives on the line just like you are. You don't have time to think about being brave," he said.
"Had I not been able to get myself out of that situation, my team that was just down the stairs from me would have had to come up the stairs to get me and that would have been a terrible position tactically for them to be in," he told us.
"They would have been under heavy fire and chances are that one of them may sustain an injury or die. I knew that I had to get out of there in order to keep myself alive and keep the team alive and it was just, it was instinctual. I mean, you're fighting for your life. You do what you have to do to stay alive."
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