By Joanna Putman
Police1
YAVAPAI COUNTY, Ariz. — An officer who was shot by a suspect in 2022 was terminated before he could medically retire, FOX 10 reported.
“I made the decision not to die. He wasn’t going to kill me,” Preston Brogdon told FOX 10. The shooting occurred on Feb. 9, 2022, according to the report. Brogdon’s injuries have prevented him from returning to work since then.
“I lost seven quarts of blood. Shattered hip, shattered pelvis, shattered femur, severed my small intestine, caused me all kinds of nerve and muscle damage,” Brogdon said.
His inability to return to work was cited as the reason for his termination in a letter obtained by FOX 10.
“The Yavapai-Apache Nation has terminated your employment due to not being able to return to full job duties as a police sergeant per your doctor’s return to work status reports,” the letter reads.
“It’s one thing to soak up all the good media, and the community coming together and the pats on the back when he first got shot, but it’s becoming easier for them to forget,” Brogdon’s wife Bailey told FOX 10. “Just getting tossed to the side.”
FOX 10 reached out to members of the Yavapai-Apache Nation Tribal Police Department for comment, but none have answered phone calls or emails, according to the report.
