“A Front Row Seat to Life”

 ATO Family today we are celebrating our milestone 75th episode with a true piece of Dallas Police and ATO history with David Rodriguez.

David was born in 1948 and grew up in a segregated West Dallas and joined the Vietnam War right after high school. At this time Dallas PD had their recruiting doors wide open for veterans of this war and David walked right through those doors and into DPD’s open arms in 1969 and graduated in academy class #107.

He made his name as a legendary FTO in the Northwest Division and was awarded an award for Trainer of the Decade.

At age 46 years old David wanted to try something new ventured to the growing Narcotics Unit to battle the deadly drug wars in Dallas in the 90’s

David fell in love with the high speed dynamics of the Narcotics Division and embraced this new role and this new war on drugs.

But life being what it is- a series of intersecting lives and incidents, out of anyone’s control changed David’s life and career.

In January of 1994, while executing a Narcotics Search Warrant. David was shot four times by a suspect and became paralyzed from the chest down.

After a lengthy period of rehabilitation, David found himself unable to perform his duties and was forced to retire.

David did retire from Dallas PD but he did not stop working. He recognized the need help his fellow officers who found themselves in similar circumstances and focused on his new mission.

He helped Bill Carollo, Eddie Crawford and Tom Popken create the Assist the Officer Foundation.

Sit back and listen to a true story of resiliency and determination.  Badge #2776 the ATO is yours……

Critical Incident:

 January 1994 Narcotics officer involved shooting that left Detective David Rodriguez paralyzed.