Sonora police officer Aitken recovering

With a smile on his face Jeff Aitken talks of how blessed he feels that he will regain the ability to walk and the thought of one day walking his little girl down the aisle. Maggie Beck/The Union Democrat, copyright 2009

He remembers seeing John Andrews, one of the lead paramedics who responded, by his side as he cried in pain.
   

He remembers seeing the flight nurse in her helmet and microphone standing above him, the glow of the street lights at his side.

He recalls the green air cartridge of a Taser on the belt of a California Highway Patrol officer, who stood sentry at his hospital bed in Modesto.

Everything else is lost in a haze of painkillers.

Aitken, 32, was chasing a suspected drunk driver early May 16 when the crash occurred.

According to the California Highway Patrol, the pursuit started on Morningstar Drive and continued north on Greenley Road, then east on Lyons-Bald Mountain for about a mile until Aiken entered a curve about 80 mph, lost control of his patrol car and struck a tree at 1:40 a.m.

Officers later arrested Peter Loren Barrett, 20,  at a tow company when he went to pick up the car he apparently had deserted following the chase. Barrett is charged with evading a peace officer, causing injury.

Aitken was in critical condition when he arrived at Doctors Medical Center in Modesto. Nearly a month later, he sits in an electronic wheelchair, his leg held out straight with steel bars, his arm encased in a splint wrapped in an ace bandage and his neck in a brace.

For all the pain, Aitken feels fortunate to be alive.

“It took me a few days to realize I’m lucky to be here, and it took me while to accept that — that I shouldn’t be here, or I should be paralyzed, a vegetable,” he said.
 
Crashing
Law enforcement has an unwritten rule that officers stand by a fallen officer from the time of an accident until the officer is stable.

Andrews started the watch, staying with Aitken in his car while he was extricated.

The CHP officer in the hospital remained by his bedside until his colleagues from the Sonora Police Department arrived. 

In addition to the emergency responders, Aitken felt that his mother, who died in July 2007, was with him in his hospital room.

The Thursday after the accident (May 21) is when memories began to solidify into the chronology he recounted during an interview last week with The Union Democrat.

 It was also the day of the surgery on his elbow. 

Anesthesia has been known to allow patients to recall a trauma. He relived the accident during the three-hour surgery. 

When he regained consciousness, he thought he had been in a second accident. After the surgery, he was screaming in pain and confusion, asking a nurse how a second accident could have occurred, until she explained there was only one.

His 5-year-old daughter, Ashley, and 13-year-old son, Mikahl, visited him in the hospital once he was stable.

Ashley, who associates hospitals with her grandmother’s death, was scared and uncomfortable at first. But with time, she relaxed into her old self.

Mikahl was understanding when Aitken told him he wouldn’t be able to come for his eighth-grade graduation in Porterville.

He said, “ ‘Daddy, it’s OK,’ “ Aitken recounted. “ ‘You’re alive. You can come to my high school graduation.’ “ 

Broken bones

Aitken’s injuries read like a morbid anatomy book.

Broken left upper tibula and fibula, where the bone enters the knee.

Shattered left patella and torn ligaments and tendons.

Double displacement of the femur, broken at mid-thigh and where the bone enters the hip.

Broken left ulna and radius. 

Shattered left elbow and torn ligaments and tendons.

Torn tricep muscle.

A broken fifth vertebrae in the neck.

Three broken right ribs.

Bleeding brain.

The injury with the most potential for long-term repercussions is his elbow, which is bound together with screws and other hardware. His surgeon told him it was the worst elbow injury he had seen that didn’t require amputation.

It looked like a hand grenade had gone off in his elbow, the doctor said. 

Doctors told him it is highly unlikely he will be able to go back to being a police officer because he will have limited mobility.  

Aitken isn’t out to prove them wrong, but returning to duty is his goal and would be a test of his own perseverance.

He acknowledges, however, that his future might not look like what he expected before the crash. Even if he is physically sound, he wants to be sure he can mentally resume police duties. 

“Will I be able to get into a car and chase someone?” he wondered.

If not, he doesn’t want to endanger others on the police force or the public.

“I’m not going to be selfish enough to go back to work if I can’t do that,” he said.

If police work isn’t an option, he has considered working as a dispatcher and ultimately going back to school and completing a teaching degree he once started. Or he could go to law school and work for a district attorney’s office.

“I’ve got no concerns with my future,” he said. “I’m alive.”

Home again
 Last Monday marked the day Aitken arrived back in Sonora, where he is staying in a hotel until he can walk again.

The hallways and bathroom of his Sonora duplex are too small for him to navigate with his outstretched leg.

The transition has had its ups and downs, between getting the equipment he needs and adjusting to taking care of himself.

“Honestly, it’s hard,” he said. “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t.”

But there is a kind of relief that comes with being back home and having friends and family only five minutes away. He was able to surprise his daughter at her kindergarten graduation Tuesday.

Aitken, who was born and raised in Sonora, is grateful for the support of the Police Department, friends and family.

He has a stack of banners and cards from well-wishers he plans on having hung in his hotel room.

The Police Department has loaned him an extra laptop computer, which is still connected to the department’s software system. It allows him contact with other officers and keeps him in the loop, he said.

Recovering
Aitken sees his recovery in chapters.

First he has to learn how to live in a wheelchair. That chapter will likely last three to four months, during which he can’t put any weight on his leg.

Part of his therapy is getting out as much as possible, accepting hugs from members of the community.

He also plans on hanging out at the police station and fire department, going to dinner and doing his own shopping as much as possible.

 “That’s what’s going to get me through this chapter,” he said.

Then he will begin more intense physical therapy, attempting to regain strength and mobility in his left side.

Once he can walk again, he should be able to move back into his Sonora duplex.

Doctors estimate his recovery — in whatever its form — will take a full year.

“My feeling is God has me getting to a certain point,” he said. “Whether that’s 75 percent or 100 percent, my job is just to get to whatever that level is.”

Whether he will regain full range of motion in his arm or not, he is grateful that he “will be able to walk my daughter down the aisle.”

Growing
Aitken’s mind has taken a journey that his body can’t.

From a man who once stifled his emotions, he now cries freely when talking about the people who assisted him after the accident.

He also has a new appreciation for the little things, like brushing his teeth, putting on clothes, getting out of bed — things that now require thought and effort to execute.

He’s learning to ask for help and to curb his perfectionist impulses.

He has gone from limiting his life to taking care of his daughter and work, to reaching out to others through venues like Facebook and caringbridge, a Web site that tracks his progress.

“I think you just kind of get that wake up call,” he said. “You have all those people in your life. You need to embrace them, share with them.”

Despite the heartbreak and pain the accident resulted in, he said he would do it all again.

“I was working, performing my duties,” he said. “What I saw that night required action to be taken, and I would take that same action. Absolutely. No questions asked. That’s my job.”