Twice wounded, police officer no longer resists body armor

Twice wounded, officer no longer resists body armor
By Kevin Johnson,
USA TODAY
Knoxville, Tenn., police officer Norman Rickman had no reason to believe he was in danger five months ago when he checked out a blaring home burglar alarm on the city's northwest side.
Yet he was on the ground within minutes, blood pouring out of bullet wounds to his chest and left arm as one of three suspects stood over him and fired two more shots into his upper back at point-blank range.

Miraculously, the officer survived. "God was on my side that day," Rickman says.
More extraordinary, perhaps, is that the May shooting marked the second time in seven years that Rickman had been seriously wounded while not wearing a bullet-resistant vest.

Rickman's experience may be extreme, but it underscores the concerns of law enforcement officials and training officers who estimate that up to half of the nation's approximately 700,000 officers do not regularly wear protective vests.
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