By Deven Clarke, WJAC-TV
ATLANTA, Ga. – He’s a Pennsylvania state trooper who can neither walk nor move his arms on his own after being shot in the neck in September.
Now, he’s hundreds of miles away from home to undergo specialized treatment at the Shepherd Spinal Center in Atlanta, Ga.
Trooper Bradley Wilson was approaching the end of a more than 24-year career as a state trooper. However, his career ended suddenly and violently on Sept. 26.
Wilson was attempting to serve a search warrant at a home on Cemetery Hill Road just outside Brockway where there was suspected drug activity.
On that day, Kenneth Lees Sr. opened fire and shot Wilson in the neck. Lees later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a stand-off with law enforcement, according to police.
“I didn’t know if I was going to survive or not,” Wilson admitted during an interview in his Atlanta rehabilitation room. “I thought I was going to die.”
Wilson cannot discuss any details regarding the case, as it’s still under investigation. However, he struggles to understand why Lees decided to shoot him.
Aerika Liddington, who is Wilson’s fiancé, added, “They have told him, ‘I can’t believe you’re sitting right here. Man, you know, you were dead.’” Both bullets are still lodged inside of Wilson.
“They are not hurting him medically, so doctors decided to leave them,” she said. Wilson is now quadriplegic and uses a wheelchair to explore the halls of the rehab center.
He attends therapy six days every week. He’s also been working on controlling his wheelchair with a straw. He uses sips and blows to maneuver the wheelchair in the direction he wants to go in.
Wilson has been receiving an out-pour of love from friends back home and even strangers. “It makes me feel good that the community has good feelings towards me, and people who I don’t even know send me cards,” he said.
But for Wilson and his family, there are still many worries. “My house was built in the 1940’s and it’s not really wheelchair accessible,” he said. “It’s going to have to be modified and even have an addition built on it so I can move around.”
Despite all that he’s been through and the long journey still ahead, Wilson amazingly said he wouldn’t change anything. “I am a Pennsylvania state trooper. I am a soldier of the law,” he said.
Liddington is hopeful that Wilson will be able to go home by his birthday in April.
If you would like to send cards, please mail them to C/O Trooper Bradley Wilson, Shepherd Center 2020 Peachtree Rd., NE Atlanta, GA 30309.
