December 10, 2024 • 31 mins
Can you imagine facing a life-threatening situation and emerging not only alive but more determined than ever? This gripping episode of our Resilience Series on the Breach Your Mind podcast features the astounding story of Jared Reston, a law enforcement officer who survived being shot seven times. Jared's incredible journey of recovery and continued dedication to his career will leave you inspired and reflective on your own capacity for resilience in the face of adversity.
As we launch this series, we're not just sharing stories; we're building a community. Your own stories of resilience matter, whether you've faced personal demons, navigated professional challenges, or overcome unexpected hurdles. We invite you to share these experiences with us, promising anonymity to ensure your comfort and security. By fostering a network of shared narratives, we aim to create a ripple effect of empowerment and inspiration, transcending individual experiences to uplift an entire community.
Storytelling is a profound connector, and we encourage you to reach out through social media or email, choosing the medium that best suits your comfort level. This episode is not only an invitation to listen but also a call to participate and amplify your voice. Together, let's harness our collective resilience, turning personal trials into powerful narratives that can impact and inspire others. Your engagement makes all the difference, and we’re grateful for every story that shapes our growing community.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Team 1, stand by Copy .
Team 1, standing by Breach,breach, breach.
Hey guys, what's going on?
Welcome back to the Breach yourMind podcast.
If a lot of you remember, back alittle while back, I put out a
(00:23):
call.
I made a call to everyone thatwatched the podcast or consumed
any of my content to reach outto me, whether it's through
email messages, what have you?
But?
Reach out to me with yourstories, Tell me your stories
and let's get your story heardby others Because, like I said
then, my stories don't resonatewith everybody.
(00:45):
It's only one standpoint andpeople may not be able to
resonate with that, but theymight with yours.
So I wanted to give you guys achance to help out and get your
story out there, get your storyof resilience out there to
others who may be going throughthe same thing, and give y'all a
chance to help someone else,and in that regard, you guys
(01:09):
have.
There's been several of youthat have reached out.
You either sent me a message oremailed me and told me that you
had something going on.
Unfortunately, I do think thatthe purpose or the act of simply
going and telling that story toeveryone yourself has caused
you to be a little gun shy, andthat's fine.
(01:30):
Telling something on a podcast,especially when your face or
your actual voice is heard, it'sdifficult, and I know how
difficult it is because, despitehow it looks, I don't like the
camera.
I don't like talking either.
Despite how it looks, I don'tlike the camera, I don't like
talking either, but I do it andI get through it.
So I understand that.
But what I will ask is that youkeep your stories coming, that
(01:55):
you keep reaching out to me andin doing so, if it's not
something you're comfortablewith, if you're not comfortable
doing a live meeting or a liveinterview with me comfortable
with, if you're not comfortabledoing a live meeting or a live
interview with me or a recordedinterview with me, just tell me
your story.
Send me an email with yourstory at breachyourmindcom so
(02:16):
that I can get your story outthere and we can tailor it
however you need to.
We can put your name in it, notput your name in it.
You know whatever you want toget your story out there that
you think might help somebodyelse Reach out to me, so we can
put your name in it, not putyour name in it.
You know whatever you want toget your story out there that
you think might help somebodyelse reach out to me so we can
get that out there.
Because when I put that call outto start this series on
resilience, it wasn't a one-timething.
It's a constant thing.
(02:36):
I think resilience is somethingthat we need to keep working on
and all of us need to keepdeveloping, even even if we
already are a resilientindividual.
We need to keep developing that, you know, because what winds
up happening when we areresilient individuals is we are
able to pass that on to others,we're able to share that with
(02:59):
other people and help make themmore resilient as well, and
that's what we need.
That's what we need to get to.
That's a goal for us all toaccomplish, and I need y'all's
help to do that, because I can'tdo it alone.
So, in that spirit, tonightwhat we're going to do is we're
going to start our resilientseries.
(03:20):
Unfortunately, the subject oftonight's podcast I wasn't able
to get that person on live withan interview.
I'm hoping that'll change, soif it comes across, please
consider it.
But this individual's storychanged a lot of things for me.
(03:40):
It changed my perspective, notonly in how I do my job, but it
changed perspective for how Isee things in life, and it made
such an immense impact on extentthat I can pretty much memorize
what he said and say it.
(04:01):
You know, I can tell that storywithout a whole lot of
references For the purposes ofthis podcast.
I actually went back and tooksome notes just to make sure I
(04:21):
didn't get some things wrong,and that's where I'm going to go
tonight.
That's what we're going to dois I'm going to start off this
series on resilience withsomething that changed me, and
it's not my story, it's someoneelse's.
It happened after I'd alreadystarted doing my own job, and
that's what I want to focus on.
(04:41):
That's what I want to do is Iwant to start off this series
and hopefully encourage the restof you to send your stories or
be willing to come on andinterview with me so that we
could get your story out toeverybody else as well.
So, without further ado, let'sgo ahead and jump into the story
.
Hq Rescue 1068, 9400.
(05:04):
Atlantic Officer down 252,depth 242.
Jump into the story at thestorage place Nightwater.
Atlantic Officer down Rescue1068.
(05:28):
This particular story is a manby the name of Jared Reston.
Some of you may know him, someof you may be familiar with him,
you may be familiar with hisstory, but if you're not, I'll
enlighten you.
So Jared Reston was a deputydown in Jacksonville, florida.
He specifically worked for theJacksonville Sheriff's Office
(05:51):
and on January 26, 2008, whichis two years after I got onto
the job January 26, 2008, jaredReston was working at the
Regency Mall and he was workingoff duty.
Him and his partner weresitting in the security booth
and they're watching thesecurity cameras I don't know
how many security cameras werethere, but they're watching the
(06:12):
security cameras and they'rejust working off duty assisting
the mall cops security,assisting them with doing their
job.
And they're sitting there andthey're watching these cameras
and they hear it come over theradio and they can see it on the
camera.
That mall security has got acouple of subjects that they're
(06:34):
dealing with and the individualswere caught shoplifting.
So mall security's jumping inand they're trying to do their
things.
They're putting the call outover the radio.
So Jared Reston and his partnerand sir, I apologize, I don't
recall your name.
It's not intentional.
I mean no disrespect by it, butJared Reston and his partner
(06:55):
get up and they run down to goassist mall security as they get
down to where they've got onesubject.
Mall security has got himhemmed up and they're dealing
with him and they said the otherone's running, he's going go
get him.
So Jared and his partner takeoff running and I'm sure many of
(07:16):
you have gone to a mall.
You understand how big they areand how big parking lots are
and they're never usually in asmall place.
It's usually a pretty busy areaand that's the way it is down
in Jacksonville.
So Jared and his partner takeoff.
They're going across this parka lot.
They see him and they take offafter him.
(07:36):
Both of them take off runningand it's a foot pursuit.
He sees them, they see him andthe race is on.
They're off to it.
As they're running along andlistening to Jared tell his
story on I believe it was Police1.
It was an interview on Police 1.
Listening to Jared tell hisstory, his partner started
(07:58):
getting gassed out, which ifyou've never ran, I don't care
how fit you are, but if you'venever ran wearing full gear vest
, belt, belts or boots, all thegear that we got to carry it
adds a lot to you.
You know, when you're startingto add 20, 25 pounds to your
(08:19):
body and running.
That takes a lot out of you.
But his partner started gettinggassed and you know he told
Jared, you know, get him.
So Jared kept going and,according to what I could find,
they wound up running acrosslike a six-lane highway and
running down into like adrainage pond.
When Jared gets to him, youknow when he's telling his story
(08:40):
, and I would love nothing morethan to, post-production, put
that Police One video in herefor him to tell it and for you
to hear it in his own words.
But copyright issues.
You know I'm not trying to getin trouble, but Jared says he
runs after him and as he gets tohim the guy stops and turns
(09:01):
around and takes a fightingstance and as Jared gets to him
the fight's on, they'restruggling and they're fighting
and all of a sudden he felt likehe got hit with this massive
uppercut and it just, you know,it kind of laid him out.
Jared goes down and he hits theground.
He falls down into this drieddrainage pond, this drainage
(09:23):
area.
Down into this dried drainagepond, this drainage area, he
falls down.
And that's when he realizedthat what had actually happened
was he wasn't punched, thesuspect didn't catch a lucky
shot, he didn't break Jared'sdefenses and get a good lucky
shot on his jaw.
Nothing like that.
It was a lot worse.
What wound up happening is, whenthis subject got the
(09:45):
opportunity, he pulled out hisGlock pistol and discharged a
round.
That round came up throughJared's jaw, exited out the back
side of it and that's what hefelt.
That was the uppercut that tookhim down.
He collapses into this drainagepond and the subject turns to
(10:09):
him and he's now aiming down athim.
He's aiming down at him andhe's firing.
He hits Jared a total of, Ibelieve, seven times.
He caught three in the vest,one in the thigh, obviously, or
the jaw, three in the vest, onein the thigh, obviously, or the
jaw, one in the thigh, one inhis buttocks and one in his
elbow.
This guy has riddled him up.
(10:30):
Jared's been hit seven timesand, yeah, he's wearing a vest.
He's wearing that vest.
But if you have any idea ofwhat these vests are, it's not
some big, hard, thick plate thatwe typically wear.
It's not that.
That's a special use purposecarrier, and even then it's
(10:54):
going to hurt.
We wear a soft armor.
So when that round hits thatsoft armor, we're going to feel
it.
Imagine someone taking a ball,pin, hammer and cracking you
square in the chest just as hardas they can, and you've got
something about that thick,maybe thinner, between that
(11:14):
hammer and your sternum.
You're going to feel that.
You're going to feel it.
He took those three plus theother four thigh, the buttocks,
the elbow and the jaw.
Seven rounds total is what hetook.
So he's laying there in thisretention pond or drainage pond,
(11:36):
whatever you want to call it.
He's laying there in this thingand he's been shot and none of
them are good hits, none of themare ones you're like God, it's
fine, it's a flesh wound, we'llmove on.
It's not that you know,especially the one that hit him
in the face.
You know all of these aredisabling shots.
(11:57):
So he's laying there and thesuspect wound up being a young
male by the name of Joel Abner.
Later they found out that and Icould be mistaken because I
couldn't find it in my research,but I remember it from the
video that at the time that thisall happened, joel had no
criminal record.
He'd never been convicted of acrime.
(12:18):
So for all intents and purposes, this is the first crime that
anyone ever knew he'd committed,and it was shoplifting, and he
made the option to unalive a lawenforcement officer over some
clothes, over not getting introuble for what would likely
(12:39):
have been a misdemeanor charge,he decided and made the choice
that he was going to try to takethe life of a law enforcement
officer.
So Mr Abner has delivered theseseven shots to Jared and
Jared's laying in this drainagepond or this retention pond and
he's bleeding.
Abner thinks that he's done it,he's offed him, he's free, he
(13:05):
can go on about his life.
So he turns and he starts towalk away.
And it's at that moment, asJared describes, while he was
laying there in this retentionpond and he's watching this man,
this young man who's just shothim, walk away from him.
And it made him mad.
(13:27):
He wasn't scared, he wasn'tfearful of death, he got mad.
He got mad that this individualmade this choice and then just
expected him to die.
And he fought through itbecause he made the decision
that he wasn't going to be theonly one that went out.
(13:49):
So, after taking seven rounds,three to his protective gear and
then four to the rest of hisbody, one which was a face shot,
jared made the decision that itwasn't going to be just him.
It wasn't going to be just himIf he was going to meet his
maker.
(14:09):
He's going to bring somebodywith him.
So Jared musters up thestrength, he finds that
intestinal fortitude.
He rolls up onto his hip and hepulls his service weapon from
his hip.
Well, during this time, abner,from what Jared said, abner must
have hurt him.
Because he turns around andsees Jared rolling up and
(14:33):
pulling his weapon.
Abner realizes he hadn't donethe job quite as good as he
thought.
So he turns around and startsto re-approach.
He wants to come back andfinish the job that he started,
because now, now he can't, hecan't just walk away from it
like it is.
So as he turns, he's comingback up with his weapon.
(14:56):
Jared finds that strength, getshis weapon out, levels out and
starts squeezing off rounds.
Boom, boom, boom.
Starts squeezing off rounds.
Boom, boom, boom.
He's not hitting him, but he'sclose.
And the way Jared describes itwas as he's firing these shots
(15:18):
at Abner.
It was almost as if you werechasing your kid with a squirt
gun, the water gun.
Now, when you're chasing them,you're trying to get them and
they're like ah, that littlestream of water is going right
behind them and they're tuckingin, trying to keep it from
hitting.
That's what Abner's doing.
Jared's walking him in.
Well, it happens that he stepsin the right spot.
(15:42):
Jared's pistol finds its mark,he strikes Abner.
Abner falls down into him andas he falls into him, jared said
that he caught him.
He cradled Abner and deliveredtwo vault shots.
And I'd love to go into it.
(16:03):
I really would love to go intothat, but I honestly don't know
what'll get me banned and kickedoff.
But, that being said, hecatches Abner After striking him
.
He catches him and he deliverstwo vault shots and the fight
was over.
(16:24):
Now it took me longer to tellthat story of what happened to
Jared on that day than it tookfor it to actually occur, and
I'm not going to sit here andtry to tell you that.
I know exactly how long it took, that it was this amount of
minutes and this amount ofseconds or this amount of
seconds.
But from my own experience, insituations that are rapidly
(16:46):
evolving and require every oneof your senses to do their part,
time slows down for you, but itcontinues on, and what may have
felt like a lifetime for JaredReston when he made contact with
Joel Abner was only a fewseconds in time that forever
(17:07):
changed both of their lives andtime that forever changed both
of their lives.
Jared was shot up seven times.
Abner was now deceased.
His partner gets there, otherservices get there.
They get Jared up, get him tothe hospital.
He undergoes a lot of surgeries.
He's got a long road torecovery, but he doesn't stop.
(17:32):
After it was said and done, whenJared was healed and recovered
medically, he went back to thejob.
Jared decided that that one dayin his life was not going to
end the career that he chose tohelp people and he got back.
After him, jared started in lawenforcement in 2001.
(17:55):
It's about five years before Igot on the job.
Got in it in 2001.
The very beginning of 2008 iswhen this all happened, so
you're talking about the span ofabout seven years.
He had about seven years ofexperience when this happened
and those few seconds changedhis life forever.
(18:16):
He got up, he got back on thehorse and he kept riding.
Jared wound up, finishing out a20-year career in law
enforcement.
Out.
A 20-year career in lawenforcement Didn't stay on
patrol.
He worked patrol.
He worked as an investigator.
He was a SWAT team member.
(18:37):
As a SWAT team member, he wasinvolved in over 1,000
operations, some of whichrequired the use of lethal force
.
For 20 years, jared Restonserved his community and did his
job.
13 of those, roughly, was afterJoel Abner attempted to take
(19:00):
his life.
He didn't let that stop him.
He had a heart and a passion tohelp people.
Stop him.
He had a heart and a passion tohelp people and despite
everything that he went through,despite seven rounds three that
pierced his body, four thatpierced his body despite that,
(19:22):
jared, he didn't let it go.
When I tell this story toothers, when I tell this story
to individuals who are juststarting out in this job that I
do, I call it the warrior spirit.
I call it the warrior spiritbecause Jared refused to go down
(19:44):
.
He refused to let that take himout.
He refused to let that take himout, despite all the odds and
everything that was workingagainst him at that moment.
It would have been so easy forhim to give up.
It would have been so easy forhim to accept defeat and lay
there in that drainage pond, inthat drainage ditch, and that
(20:09):
would be the end of his story.
But that's not what he did.
He's a warrior and like awarrior, he was going to fight
until he couldn't fight anymore,and that's what he did.
For 20 years he worked the job13,.
(20:30):
Roughly 13 of those years wasafter that day.
Since his retirement, he'sopened up a company called the
Reston Group.
There at the Reston Group, he'shim and his other cadre
instruct courses in firearms,tactics, things of that nature.
(20:54):
So even after his retirementfrom law enforcement, jared
Reston is still continuing totry to contribute to his
community.
He's still teaching peopleabout firearms.
He's teaching people abouttactics.
He's teaching people excuse me,he's teaching people about
firearms.
He's teaching people abouttactics.
He's teaching people excuse me,he's teaching people about real
(21:14):
world situations and scenariosand things that they can
encounter in their lives and howto be better prepared for it.
That's what he's doing.
After giving 20 years to thecitizens of his community, to
the citizens of his community,after taking seven rounds from
Joel Abner, whose intent was toend his life over a misdemeanor
(21:43):
charge, that's what he continuesto do Now.
I don't know how y'all feelabout that story.
Hopefully I did it justice.
In my opinion, I don't do itnowhere near the justice that it
deserves.
Hearing it from Jared it's amuch more impactful thing.
But when I watched that policeone video and I saw Jared
(22:03):
sitting there on that stagedoing the interview and I heard
him tell a story that made animpact on me, that changed my
life, because at the time thatthat occurred I was a rookie.
I got into the job in 2006.
I didn't know what I was doing.
(22:25):
Now we all graduate out of ourrespective academies and we all
go through our training andthink we know what we're doing
and you get two, three, fouryears under your belt and you
still think you know what you'redoing and you don't know
anything.
You got a little bit of an idea, but you don't know anything.
There's a reason the vastmajority of us in this
profession say that you're noteven considered a veteran until
(22:48):
you've finished up five years.
Say that you're not evenconsidered a veteran until
you've finished up five yearsBecause until you've hit that
mark, there's no way you'vecovered most of the things that
you're going to encounter inthis job.
There's no way, in a couple ofyears, you've been prepared for
what comes with living this life.
Jared Reston's a warrior andwhat he had January 26, 2008,
(23:16):
was the warrior spirit and as ayoung rookie of two years
roughly in this job not even afull two years as a young rookie
, hearing the story of JaredReston, I was inspired and I was
changed.
Reston, I was inspired and Iwas changed.
(23:38):
My family will tell you thatanytime I leave the home they'll
say I love you, be careful.
And my response is I'll try, Ilove you too, I'll try.
They didn't really like thatparticular response when I first
gave it, because who wants tohear I'll try?
Nobody wants to hear that I'lltry.
Hey, do good on your test.
(23:59):
I'll try.
Hey, do good at whatever you'redoing, I'll try.
That's not what they want tohear.
They want to hear I will.
They want that confirmation.
They want the affirmation thatyou're going to do it.
Be careful, I will.
They want the affirmation.
(24:23):
Folks, I'm going to tell you inthis line of work and it's not
just mine, it's all of publicsafety, military public safety,
military public safety we can beas safe as we want and it not
change a thing.
We can be as safe as we wantand regardless of our actions,
(24:51):
we might not make it home.
But all we can do is try, andthat's why my response was to my
family Still is today I'll try,I love you, be careful, have a
good day.
I'll try, because all I can dois my part, and if I have
anything to do with it which Igenerally do I want to be
(25:13):
careful.
I'm generally not a stupidindividual.
I'll try.
Jared Rustin is the one thathelped me come to that
conclusion.
There's only so much I can do,but I'm going to do it until I
can't do it anymore.
Jared Rustin's resilience onthat day didn't just change my
(25:36):
life.
It changed the life of a lotmore His family, his Joel
Abner's family, many of us thathave come into this job after he
did, many that came into thisjob after his fateful day.
His story has changed lives.
(25:59):
His resiliency changed lives.
His unwillingness to give up,to continue to be a warrior and
fight the fight has changedlives.
That's the reason why I wantedto start this series off with
(26:21):
this one.
I wanted to start this seriesoff with it because I hope, if
nothing else, even if I didn'tconvey Jared's story good enough
, I hope that you can at leastunderstand the importance of his
story to me.
The difference that his storymade for me is a young rookie
(26:43):
starting out in this line ofwork, because I still carry that
with me today.
I've been in this job for 18years.
That with me today.
I've been in this job for 18years.
I've seen a lot of things, I'vedone a lot of things and I
still carry that lesson with metoday Because of what Jared
(27:04):
Reston went through.
It changed how I do my job andchanged my perspective on life.
Yeah, that was an important onefor me.
So for nothing else, as much asI hope that this particular
(27:27):
story helped others and reallydemonstrated what resiliency is,
especially in that particularincident, as much as I hope for
all that this podcast was for me, this podcast was not just for
me, but for those who are stillgoing through or doing something
(27:51):
similar.
For those who are still goingthrough or doing something
similar, this podcast was to saythank you to Jared for being
willing to share his story withso many so long ago.
I can't say that I wouldn'thave learned that or developed
(28:15):
the idea of a warrior spirit oranything like that had it not
been for his story, but I cansay with 100% certainty that
because of Jared's story I didso, for nothing else, jared,
thank you.
Thank you for sharing yourstory, thank you for the job
(28:35):
that you did, thank you for whatyou still do for people.
Now it's the resiliency thatyou had that day that's changed
so many people's lives for thebetter.
So, yeah, anyway, guys, that'sabout all I got.
(28:59):
I hope that this episode hasresonated with some of you.
I hope that this episode hasinspired some of you.
I really hope, above anythingelse, that it's maybe given some
of you a little bit of courageto come forward and want to tell
your story, to reach out andhave the opportunity to get your
(29:21):
story out there.
This particular story was aboutan incident that occurred in a
law enforcement officer's life,but that's not the only place
that these things occurofficer's life, but that's not
the only place that these thingsoccur.
Resiliency isn't just for lawenforcement, public safety,
military Resiliency is withineveryone.
Resiliency, resilience itselfis with you always, and it's the
(29:48):
level of resilience you have inyour life that is going to
dictate how you handle thecurveballs and the blows that
life deals out.
And my goal here is to helpeveryone that I can develop
those, develop theirs and becomea stronger person.
So, guys, I'm going to say itagain.
(30:08):
I'm going to say it again Ifyou've got a story, if you've
got a situation in your lifethat was tough that you had to
dig deep on.
That required you to dig deeperin your soul than you ever had
to before to get out and to makesomething out of a bad
situation or whatever it mayhave been and it doesn't have to
(30:28):
be life-threatening Anythingthat impacted you to that level.
Reach out to me, hit me up.
You can hit me on any of mysocial links.
You can hit me at breach atbreachyourmindcom.
Send me your story.
I want to hear it, and ifgetting online and doing a video
(30:50):
interview or doing a recordedaudio interview is not for you,
that's fine.
We'll correspond through emailuntil we get your story exactly
how you want it told, and then Iwill come on and I will tell
your story, because as hard asit is for me to sit here with
this microphone in front of me,these cameras in front of me,
(31:11):
and tell this and talk front ofme, these cameras in front of me
, and tell this and talk, if itmeans giving you a chance to
help somebody, if it's a chancefor me to help somebody, then
that's what I'm going to do.
So hit me up guys, let's getyour story out there and let's
get you the opportunity to helpsomebody else.
So until next time, Iappreciate you.
(31:32):
Thank you for stopping by.
Be safe, we'll catch you on thenext one.
Bye, guys.
Team 1, stand by Copy .
Team 1, standing by Breach,breach, breach.
Hey guys, what's going on?
Welcome back to the Breach yourMind podcast.
If a lot of you remember, back alittle while back, I put out a
(00:23):
call.
I made a call to everyone thatwatched the podcast or consumed
any of my content to reach outto me, whether it's through
email messages, what have you?
But?
Reach out to me with yourstories, Tell me your stories
and let's get your story heardby others Because, like I said
then, my stories don't resonatewith everybody.
(00:45):
It's only one standpoint andpeople may not be able to
resonate with that, but theymight with yours.
So I wanted to give you guys achance to help out and get your
story out there, get your storyof resilience out there to
others who may be going throughthe same thing, and give y'all a
chance to help someone else,and in that regard, you guys
(01:09):
have.
There's been several of youthat have reached out.
You either sent me a message oremailed me and told me that you
had something going on.
Unfortunately, I do think thatthe purpose or the act of simply
going and telling that story toeveryone yourself has caused
you to be a little gun shy, andthat's fine.
(01:30):
Telling something on a podcast,especially when your face or
your actual voice is heard, it'sdifficult, and I know how
difficult it is because, despitehow it looks, I don't like the
camera.
I don't like talking either.
Despite how it looks, I don'tlike the camera, I don't like
talking either, but I do it andI get through it.
So I understand that.
But what I will ask is that youkeep your stories coming, that
(01:55):
you keep reaching out to me andin doing so, if it's not
something you're comfortablewith, if you're not comfortable
doing a live meeting or a liveinterview with me comfortable
with, if you're not comfortabledoing a live meeting or a live
interview with me or a recordedinterview with me, just tell me
your story.
Send me an email with yourstory at breachyourmindcom so
(02:16):
that I can get your story outthere and we can tailor it
however you need to.
We can put your name in it, notput your name in it.
You know whatever you want toget your story out there that
you think might help somebodyelse Reach out to me, so we can
put your name in it, not putyour name in it.
You know whatever you want toget your story out there that
you think might help somebodyelse reach out to me so we can
get that out there.
Because when I put that call outto start this series on
resilience, it wasn't a one-timething.
It's a constant thing.
(02:36):
I think resilience is somethingthat we need to keep working on
and all of us need to keepdeveloping, even even if we
already are a resilientindividual.
We need to keep developing that, you know, because what winds
up happening when we areresilient individuals is we are
able to pass that on to others,we're able to share that with
(02:59):
other people and help make themmore resilient as well, and
that's what we need.
That's what we need to get to.
That's a goal for us all toaccomplish, and I need y'all's
help to do that, because I can'tdo it alone.
So, in that spirit, tonightwhat we're going to do is we're
going to start our resilientseries.
(03:20):
Unfortunately, the subject oftonight's podcast I wasn't able
to get that person on live withan interview.
I'm hoping that'll change, soif it comes across, please
consider it.
But this individual's storychanged a lot of things for me.
(03:40):
It changed my perspective, notonly in how I do my job, but it
changed perspective for how Isee things in life, and it made
such an immense impact on extentthat I can pretty much memorize
what he said and say it.
(04:01):
You know, I can tell that storywithout a whole lot of
references For the purposes ofthis podcast.
I actually went back and tooksome notes just to make sure I
(04:21):
didn't get some things wrong,and that's where I'm going to go
tonight.
That's what we're going to dois I'm going to start off this
series on resilience withsomething that changed me, and
it's not my story, it's someoneelse's.
It happened after I'd alreadystarted doing my own job, and
that's what I want to focus on.
(04:41):
That's what I want to do is Iwant to start off this series
and hopefully encourage the restof you to send your stories or
be willing to come on andinterview with me so that we
could get your story out toeverybody else as well.
So, without further ado, let'sgo ahead and jump into the story
.
Hq Rescue 1068, 9400.
(05:04):
Atlantic Officer down 252,depth 242.
Jump into the story at thestorage place Nightwater.
Atlantic Officer down Rescue1068.
(05:28):
This particular story is a manby the name of Jared Reston.
Some of you may know him, someof you may be familiar with him,
you may be familiar with hisstory, but if you're not, I'll
enlighten you.
So Jared Reston was a deputydown in Jacksonville, florida.
He specifically worked for theJacksonville Sheriff's Office
(05:51):
and on January 26, 2008, whichis two years after I got onto
the job January 26, 2008, jaredReston was working at the
Regency Mall and he was workingoff duty.
Him and his partner weresitting in the security booth
and they're watching thesecurity cameras I don't know
how many security cameras werethere, but they're watching the
(06:12):
security cameras and they'rejust working off duty assisting
the mall cops security,assisting them with doing their
job.
And they're sitting there andthey're watching these cameras
and they hear it come over theradio and they can see it on the
camera.
That mall security has got acouple of subjects that they're
(06:34):
dealing with and the individualswere caught shoplifting.
So mall security's jumping inand they're trying to do their
things.
They're putting the call outover the radio.
So Jared Reston and his partnerand sir, I apologize, I don't
recall your name.
It's not intentional.
I mean no disrespect by it, butJared Reston and his partner
(06:55):
get up and they run down to goassist mall security as they get
down to where they've got onesubject.
Mall security has got himhemmed up and they're dealing
with him and they said the otherone's running, he's going go
get him.
So Jared and his partner takeoff running and I'm sure many of
(07:16):
you have gone to a mall.
You understand how big they areand how big parking lots are
and they're never usually in asmall place.
It's usually a pretty busy areaand that's the way it is down
in Jacksonville.
So Jared and his partner takeoff.
They're going across this parka lot.
They see him and they take offafter him.
(07:36):
Both of them take off runningand it's a foot pursuit.
He sees them, they see him andthe race is on.
They're off to it.
As they're running along andlistening to Jared tell his
story on I believe it was Police1.
It was an interview on Police 1.
Listening to Jared tell hisstory, his partner started
(07:58):
getting gassed out, which ifyou've never ran, I don't care
how fit you are, but if you'venever ran wearing full gear vest
, belt, belts or boots, all thegear that we got to carry it
adds a lot to you.
You know, when you're startingto add 20, 25 pounds to your
(08:19):
body and running.
That takes a lot out of you.
But his partner started gettinggassed and you know he told
Jared, you know, get him.
So Jared kept going and,according to what I could find,
they wound up running acrosslike a six-lane highway and
running down into like adrainage pond.
When Jared gets to him, youknow when he's telling his story
(08:40):
, and I would love nothing morethan to, post-production, put
that Police One video in herefor him to tell it and for you
to hear it in his own words.
But copyright issues.
You know I'm not trying to getin trouble, but Jared says he
runs after him and as he gets tohim the guy stops and turns
(09:01):
around and takes a fightingstance and as Jared gets to him
the fight's on, they'restruggling and they're fighting
and all of a sudden he felt likehe got hit with this massive
uppercut and it just, you know,it kind of laid him out.
Jared goes down and he hits theground.
He falls down into this drieddrainage pond, this drainage
(09:23):
area.
Down into this dried drainagepond, this drainage area, he
falls down.
And that's when he realizedthat what had actually happened
was he wasn't punched, thesuspect didn't catch a lucky
shot, he didn't break Jared'sdefenses and get a good lucky
shot on his jaw.
Nothing like that.
It was a lot worse.
What wound up happening is, whenthis subject got the
(09:45):
opportunity, he pulled out hisGlock pistol and discharged a
round.
That round came up throughJared's jaw, exited out the back
side of it and that's what hefelt.
That was the uppercut that tookhim down.
He collapses into this drainagepond and the subject turns to
(10:09):
him and he's now aiming down athim.
He's aiming down at him andhe's firing.
He hits Jared a total of, Ibelieve, seven times.
He caught three in the vest,one in the thigh, obviously, or
the jaw, three in the vest, onein the thigh, obviously, or the
jaw, one in the thigh, one inhis buttocks and one in his
elbow.
This guy has riddled him up.
(10:30):
Jared's been hit seven timesand, yeah, he's wearing a vest.
He's wearing that vest.
But if you have any idea ofwhat these vests are, it's not
some big, hard, thick plate thatwe typically wear.
It's not that.
That's a special use purposecarrier, and even then it's
(10:54):
going to hurt.
We wear a soft armor.
So when that round hits thatsoft armor, we're going to feel
it.
Imagine someone taking a ball,pin, hammer and cracking you
square in the chest just as hardas they can, and you've got
something about that thick,maybe thinner, between that
(11:14):
hammer and your sternum.
You're going to feel that.
You're going to feel it.
He took those three plus theother four thigh, the buttocks,
the elbow and the jaw.
Seven rounds total is what hetook.
So he's laying there in thisretention pond or drainage pond,
(11:36):
whatever you want to call it.
He's laying there in this thingand he's been shot and none of
them are good hits, none of themare ones you're like God, it's
fine, it's a flesh wound, we'llmove on.
It's not that you know,especially the one that hit him
in the face.
You know all of these aredisabling shots.
(11:57):
So he's laying there and thesuspect wound up being a young
male by the name of Joel Abner.
Later they found out that and Icould be mistaken because I
couldn't find it in my research,but I remember it from the
video that at the time that thisall happened, joel had no
criminal record.
He'd never been convicted of acrime.
(12:18):
So for all intents and purposes, this is the first crime that
anyone ever knew he'd committed,and it was shoplifting, and he
made the option to unalive a lawenforcement officer over some
clothes, over not getting introuble for what would likely
(12:39):
have been a misdemeanor charge,he decided and made the choice
that he was going to try to takethe life of a law enforcement
officer.
So Mr Abner has delivered theseseven shots to Jared and
Jared's laying in this drainagepond or this retention pond and
he's bleeding.
Abner thinks that he's done it,he's offed him, he's free, he
(13:05):
can go on about his life.
So he turns and he starts towalk away.
And it's at that moment, asJared describes, while he was
laying there in this retentionpond and he's watching this man,
this young man who's just shothim, walk away from him.
And it made him mad.
(13:27):
He wasn't scared, he wasn'tfearful of death, he got mad.
He got mad that this individualmade this choice and then just
expected him to die.
And he fought through itbecause he made the decision
that he wasn't going to be theonly one that went out.
(13:49):
So, after taking seven rounds,three to his protective gear and
then four to the rest of hisbody, one which was a face shot,
jared made the decision that itwasn't going to be just him.
It wasn't going to be just himIf he was going to meet his
maker.
(14:09):
He's going to bring somebodywith him.
So Jared musters up thestrength, he finds that
intestinal fortitude.
He rolls up onto his hip and hepulls his service weapon from
his hip.
Well, during this time, abner,from what Jared said, abner must
have hurt him.
Because he turns around andsees Jared rolling up and
(14:33):
pulling his weapon.
Abner realizes he hadn't donethe job quite as good as he
thought.
So he turns around and startsto re-approach.
He wants to come back andfinish the job that he started,
because now, now he can't, hecan't just walk away from it
like it is.
So as he turns, he's comingback up with his weapon.
(14:56):
Jared finds that strength, getshis weapon out, levels out and
starts squeezing off rounds.
Boom, boom, boom.
Starts squeezing off rounds.
Boom, boom, boom.
He's not hitting him, but he'sclose.
And the way Jared describes itwas as he's firing these shots
(15:18):
at Abner.
It was almost as if you werechasing your kid with a squirt
gun, the water gun.
Now, when you're chasing them,you're trying to get them and
they're like ah, that littlestream of water is going right
behind them and they're tuckingin, trying to keep it from
hitting.
That's what Abner's doing.
Jared's walking him in.
Well, it happens that he stepsin the right spot.
(15:42):
Jared's pistol finds its mark,he strikes Abner.
Abner falls down into him andas he falls into him, jared said
that he caught him.
He cradled Abner and deliveredtwo vault shots.
And I'd love to go into it.
(16:03):
I really would love to go intothat, but I honestly don't know
what'll get me banned and kickedoff.
But, that being said, hecatches Abner After striking him
.
He catches him and he deliverstwo vault shots and the fight
was over.
(16:24):
Now it took me longer to tellthat story of what happened to
Jared on that day than it tookfor it to actually occur, and
I'm not going to sit here andtry to tell you that.
I know exactly how long it took, that it was this amount of
minutes and this amount ofseconds or this amount of
seconds.
But from my own experience, insituations that are rapidly
(16:46):
evolving and require every oneof your senses to do their part,
time slows down for you, but itcontinues on, and what may have
felt like a lifetime for JaredReston when he made contact with
Joel Abner was only a fewseconds in time that forever
(17:07):
changed both of their lives andtime that forever changed both
of their lives.
Jared was shot up seven times.
Abner was now deceased.
His partner gets there, otherservices get there.
They get Jared up, get him tothe hospital.
He undergoes a lot of surgeries.
He's got a long road torecovery, but he doesn't stop.
(17:32):
After it was said and done, whenJared was healed and recovered
medically, he went back to thejob.
Jared decided that that one dayin his life was not going to
end the career that he chose tohelp people and he got back.
After him, jared started in lawenforcement in 2001.
(17:55):
It's about five years before Igot on the job.
Got in it in 2001.
The very beginning of 2008 iswhen this all happened, so
you're talking about the span ofabout seven years.
He had about seven years ofexperience when this happened
and those few seconds changedhis life forever.
(18:16):
He got up, he got back on thehorse and he kept riding.
Jared wound up, finishing out a20-year career in law
enforcement.
Out.
A 20-year career in lawenforcement Didn't stay on
patrol.
He worked patrol.
He worked as an investigator.
He was a SWAT team member.
(18:37):
As a SWAT team member, he wasinvolved in over 1,000
operations, some of whichrequired the use of lethal force
.
For 20 years, jared Restonserved his community and did his
job.
13 of those, roughly, was afterJoel Abner attempted to take
(19:00):
his life.
He didn't let that stop him.
He had a heart and a passion tohelp people.
Stop him.
He had a heart and a passion tohelp people and despite
everything that he went through,despite seven rounds three that
pierced his body, four thatpierced his body despite that,
(19:22):
jared, he didn't let it go.
When I tell this story toothers, when I tell this story
to individuals who are juststarting out in this job that I
do, I call it the warrior spirit.
I call it the warrior spiritbecause Jared refused to go down
(19:44):
.
He refused to let that take himout.
He refused to let that take himout, despite all the odds and
everything that was workingagainst him at that moment.
It would have been so easy forhim to give up.
It would have been so easy forhim to accept defeat and lay
there in that drainage pond, inthat drainage ditch, and that
(20:09):
would be the end of his story.
But that's not what he did.
He's a warrior and like awarrior, he was going to fight
until he couldn't fight anymore,and that's what he did.
For 20 years he worked the job13,.
(20:30):
Roughly 13 of those years wasafter that day.
Since his retirement, he'sopened up a company called the
Reston Group.
There at the Reston Group, he'shim and his other cadre
instruct courses in firearms,tactics, things of that nature.
(20:54):
So even after his retirementfrom law enforcement, jared
Reston is still continuing totry to contribute to his
community.
He's still teaching peopleabout firearms.
He's teaching people abouttactics.
He's teaching people excuse me,he's teaching people about
firearms.
He's teaching people abouttactics.
He's teaching people excuse me,he's teaching people about real
(21:14):
world situations and scenariosand things that they can
encounter in their lives and howto be better prepared for it.
That's what he's doing.
After giving 20 years to thecitizens of his community, to
the citizens of his community,after taking seven rounds from
Joel Abner, whose intent was toend his life over a misdemeanor
(21:43):
charge, that's what he continuesto do Now.
I don't know how y'all feelabout that story.
Hopefully I did it justice.
In my opinion, I don't do itnowhere near the justice that it
deserves.
Hearing it from Jared it's amuch more impactful thing.
But when I watched that policeone video and I saw Jared
(22:03):
sitting there on that stagedoing the interview and I heard
him tell a story that made animpact on me, that changed my
life, because at the time thatthat occurred I was a rookie.
I got into the job in 2006.
I didn't know what I was doing.
(22:25):
Now we all graduate out of ourrespective academies and we all
go through our training andthink we know what we're doing
and you get two, three, fouryears under your belt and you
still think you know what you'redoing and you don't know
anything.
You got a little bit of an idea, but you don't know anything.
There's a reason the vastmajority of us in this
profession say that you're noteven considered a veteran until
(22:48):
you've finished up five years.
Say that you're not evenconsidered a veteran until
you've finished up five yearsBecause until you've hit that
mark, there's no way you'vecovered most of the things that
you're going to encounter inthis job.
There's no way, in a couple ofyears, you've been prepared for
what comes with living this life.
Jared Reston's a warrior andwhat he had January 26, 2008,
(23:16):
was the warrior spirit and as ayoung rookie of two years
roughly in this job not even afull two years as a young rookie
, hearing the story of JaredReston, I was inspired and I was
changed.
Reston, I was inspired and Iwas changed.
(23:38):
My family will tell you thatanytime I leave the home they'll
say I love you, be careful.
And my response is I'll try, Ilove you too, I'll try.
They didn't really like thatparticular response when I first
gave it, because who wants tohear I'll try?
Nobody wants to hear that I'lltry.
Hey, do good on your test.
(23:59):
I'll try.
Hey, do good at whatever you'redoing, I'll try.
That's not what they want tohear.
They want to hear I will.
They want that confirmation.
They want the affirmation thatyou're going to do it.
Be careful, I will.
They want the affirmation.
(24:23):
Folks, I'm going to tell you inthis line of work and it's not
just mine, it's all of publicsafety, military public safety,
military public safety we can beas safe as we want and it not
change a thing.
We can be as safe as we wantand regardless of our actions,
(24:51):
we might not make it home.
But all we can do is try, andthat's why my response was to my
family Still is today I'll try,I love you, be careful, have a
good day.
I'll try, because all I can dois my part, and if I have
anything to do with it which Igenerally do I want to be
(25:13):
careful.
I'm generally not a stupidindividual.
I'll try.
Jared Rustin is the one thathelped me come to that
conclusion.
There's only so much I can do,but I'm going to do it until I
can't do it anymore.
Jared Rustin's resilience onthat day didn't just change my
(25:36):
life.
It changed the life of a lotmore His family, his Joel
Abner's family, many of us thathave come into this job after he
did, many that came into thisjob after his fateful day.
His story has changed lives.
(25:59):
His resiliency changed lives.
His unwillingness to give up,to continue to be a warrior and
fight the fight has changedlives.
That's the reason why I wantedto start this series off with
(26:21):
this one.
I wanted to start this seriesoff with it because I hope, if
nothing else, even if I didn'tconvey Jared's story good enough
, I hope that you can at leastunderstand the importance of his
story to me.
The difference that his storymade for me is a young rookie
(26:43):
starting out in this line ofwork, because I still carry that
with me today.
I've been in this job for 18years.
That with me today.
I've been in this job for 18years.
I've seen a lot of things, I'vedone a lot of things and I
still carry that lesson with metoday Because of what Jared
(27:04):
Reston went through.
It changed how I do my job andchanged my perspective on life.
Yeah, that was an important onefor me.
So for nothing else, as much asI hope that this particular
(27:27):
story helped others and reallydemonstrated what resiliency is,
especially in that particularincident, as much as I hope for
all that this podcast was for me, this podcast was not just for
me, but for those who are stillgoing through or doing something
(27:51):
similar.
For those who are still goingthrough or doing something
similar, this podcast was to saythank you to Jared for being
willing to share his story withso many so long ago.
I can't say that I wouldn'thave learned that or developed
(28:15):
the idea of a warrior spirit oranything like that had it not
been for his story, but I cansay with 100% certainty that
because of Jared's story I didso, for nothing else, jared,
thank you.
Thank you for sharing yourstory, thank you for the job
(28:35):
that you did, thank you for whatyou still do for people.
Now it's the resiliency thatyou had that day that's changed
so many people's lives for thebetter.
So, yeah, anyway, guys, that'sabout all I got.
(28:59):
I hope that this episode hasresonated with some of you.
I hope that this episode hasinspired some of you.
I really hope, above anythingelse, that it's maybe given some
of you a little bit of courageto come forward and want to tell
your story, to reach out andhave the opportunity to get your
(29:21):
story out there.
This particular story was aboutan incident that occurred in a
law enforcement officer's life,but that's not the only place
that these things occurofficer's life, but that's not
the only place that these thingsoccur.
Resiliency isn't just for lawenforcement, public safety,
military Resiliency is withineveryone.
Resiliency, resilience itselfis with you always, and it's the
(29:48):
level of resilience you have inyour life that is going to
dictate how you handle thecurveballs and the blows that
life deals out.
And my goal here is to helpeveryone that I can develop
those, develop theirs and becomea stronger person.
So, guys, I'm going to say itagain.
(30:08):
I'm going to say it again Ifyou've got a story, if you've
got a situation in your lifethat was tough that you had to
dig deep on.
That required you to dig deeperin your soul than you ever had
to before to get out and to makesomething out of a bad
situation or whatever it mayhave been and it doesn't have to
(30:28):
be life-threatening Anythingthat impacted you to that level.
Reach out to me, hit me up.
You can hit me on any of mysocial links.
You can hit me at breach atbreachyourmindcom.
Send me your story.
I want to hear it, and ifgetting online and doing a video
(30:50):
interview or doing a recordedaudio interview is not for you,
that's fine.
We'll correspond through emailuntil we get your story exactly
how you want it told, and then Iwill come on and I will tell
your story, because as hard asit is for me to sit here with
this microphone in front of me,these cameras in front of me,
(31:11):
and tell this and talk front ofme, these cameras in front of me
, and tell this and talk, if itmeans giving you a chance to
help somebody, if it's a chancefor me to help somebody, then
that's what I'm going to do.
So hit me up guys, let's getyour story out there and let's
get you the opportunity to helpsomebody else.
So until next time, Iappreciate you.
(31:32):
Thank you for stopping by.
Be safe, we'll catch you on thenext one.
Bye, guys.
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