Six Bullets and a Second Chance: A Police Officer's Story of Recovery
In July 2018, Kansas City Police Officer Brent Cartwright's life changed forever when he was shot six times with an AK-47 during a confrontation with a dangerous homicide suspect. But as Cartwright would later reflect, "Getting shot was what saved my life because I was going down a bad path."
The incident occurred while Cartwright and his team were tracking Marlon Mack, described as Oklahoma's most violent robber, who had recently executed a graduate student during a robbery at a chicken and fish shop. The team found Mack at a hotel near Arrowhead Stadium, but what started as surveillance quickly escalated into a violent confrontation.
"I was the UC guy," Cartwright recalls, explaining his decision to approach the hotel office. "This is just easy. I'm going to get out on foot. I'm going to go to the manager's office." However, the situation rapidly deteriorated when Mack opened fire with an AK pistol.
The physical toll was severe. "I'd gotten hit twice in my left knee right out the gate," Cartwright describes. "My leg was pretty trashed... he caught me in my right leg twice, my left knee twice, my forearm, and then my left humerus broke my arm." The 7.62x39mm rounds were devastating, capable of shredding any vest that wasn't equipped with plates. As an undercover officer, Cartwright was wearing only shorts and a t-shirt.
But the physical injuries, though severe, were only part of the story. Like many law enforcement officers, Cartwright had developed an addiction to the adrenaline of high-risk police work, particularly in his role as an undercover officer. This addiction had been pushing him toward increasingly dangerous situations long before the shooting.
"I would go into buys and create conflict where there shouldn't have been," Cartwright recalls. "That was my booze if you will; that was my drug of choice." He describes one particularly telling incident: "I've got audio from one of my buys, where it was a knife and a gunfight during my buy, and I eventually get the dude out of the house, and I'm laughing with him... I mean, that was a 10 on a life-threatening situation. I registered it as a four because I lost it all."
The aftermath of the shooting brought unprecedented challenges. In the hospital, Cartwright struggled with overwhelming guilt, particularly about his fellow officers who were also injured. "You want to talk about blame and guilt. I'm the one that started this," he says. "I took every fucking piece of it, and I felt so much shame and guilt, especially when I heard Buck got shot."
The emotional impact on his family was equally devastating. Cartwright's wife arrived at the hospital to find him still covered in blood, his wounds exposed. "She walks into it and has a complete, terrible panic attack," he remembers. "That spiraled me at that point... I start realizing the gravity of what I've been doing and that it doesn't just affect me."
About a year and a half after the shooting, Cartwright attempted to return to police work in the same unit. "I just promised my wife I wasn't going to buy dope," he says, referring to undercover drug operations. However, the psychological toll became unbearable. On Thanksgiving Day, he reached his breaking point. "I made a phone call to my current therapist at the time, and I said, 'Dude, I'm done; I can't do it,'" he recalls. "I'm going to kill myself or die eventually... I was drinking almost a fifth a day to survive."
This moment of brutal honesty became the catalyst for real change. Through intensive therapy with Dr. Prohaska, who specializes in helping first responders, Cartwright began to heal. He learned the importance of finding purpose beyond the badge and maintaining interests outside law enforcement.
"John came and talked to me after I left the hospital," Cartwright remembers. "He's like, 'Dude, you need to find a way to get away and don't make police and everything your entire family. When you get away, leave your phone at home and just be away.'" This advice proved crucial for his recovery.
Cartwright has found a new purpose in sharing his story and helping other first responders recognize and address trauma before reaching crisis points. He emphasizes that his experience isn't unique to law enforcement. "Any high-stress environment will deal with almost the same things that I did," he notes. "High-stakes sales, corporate world... stress is stress."
He advocates for proactive mental health care and maintaining interests outside of work. "Getting out and just being away, traveling is awesome, as long as you can put that phone away and not tie back into work," he advises. "Eventually, your career is going to end at some point, and when you are gone, you're going to realize you were a cog in a wheel that's going to be replaced."
Cartwright's journey from injury to recovery demonstrates that resilience isn't just about physical healing or returning to exactly who you were before. Sometimes, it's about finding a new path forward and helping others along the way. Through speaking engagements and his upcoming book "Undercover Junkie," he works to help others avoid the pitfalls he encountered.
"If I can help people not catch that same cost and be able to be happy and survive and to get to retirement... that became my purpose, my mission," he explains. His story is a potent reminder that recovery often means more than just healing wounds - it can mean discovering a whole new purpose in life.
For first responders and anyone in high-stress professions, Cartwright's experience offers valuable lessons about the importance of self-awareness, the need for balance in life, and the courage to ask for help when needed. His journey from the depths of trauma to finding a new purpose exemplifies true resilience - not just surviving but finding a way to thrive and help others in the process.
NOTE: For the full interview, tune in to The Protectors® Podcast Episode 520.
