2007 - OFFICER DAN ALFORD, 35 - College internships in police work “put
the hook into me,” Officer Alford says. “I
wanted to be the guy inside the yellow
tape.” Officer Alford joined the Metropolitan
Nashville Police Department in November
1996. He served for four years on patrol
out of the south and west sector, then
went over to the west sector’s FLEX unit.
By 2005 “FLEX Officers were being
assigned to high-crime areas,” Officer
Alford recalls. “We went into places
where the business of murder, drugs, and
stolen cars was booming.”
ASSAULT TO KILL. On the morning of
July 14, Officer Alford and his colleagues
on the West Precinct’s FLEX Unit were on
foot patrol in the John Henry Hale public
housing project looking for signs of drug
dealing. When a group of individuals saw
the uniformed presence, they split up
and ran into two vacant apartments. As
Officer Alford worked to clear a secondstory
bedroom of one apartment, he
heard movement and saw a gun protrude
from a closet door.
“The next moment, the shooter was
peppering me, lightning me up,” Officer
Alford says. “I remember the blast waves
of heat and pressure slapping me in
the face.” Alford was hit several times.
One of the rounds was stopped by his
bulletproof vest before it could enter
his chest. Another bullet entered his
lower left side. He was also hit in the left
shoulder and suffered a shrapnel wound
to his left cheek.
Although critically wounded, Officer
Alford managed to return the fire. The
gunman, who was carrying cocaine,
marijuana and a wad of cash, was
wounded in the right arm. He was quickly
taken into custody by the other officers.
FIGHTING HIS WAY BACK. Officer
Alford spent several days at Vanderbilt
University Medical Center and then a
stretch recovering at home. Determined
to resume his career at the Metropolitan
Nashville Police Department, Alford
returned to light duty on December 6,
2005. He underwent follow-up surgery
in February 2006 and resumed his police
work in May.
Asked why he didn’t take disability,
he replies, “That’s just not in my nature.
I can’t let him, or it, or them beat me.” He proudly serves today with the bomb
squad of MNPD Special Operations. |
