Wesley Hawkins

My Bridge Over Troubled Waters Wesley Hawkins

In the wee hours, on October 14th, 1981 a breezy, foggy morning, my partner driving our police unit along with other Atlantic City police units were in a high speed, approximately sixty miles per hour pursuit, of a possible assault suspect, shots had been fired when my partner and I joined in on the pursuit; my partner who was driving and wearing his own personal bullet proof vest. Sadly, he was not able to put his side panels to his vest on, I was inched down in the passenger seat with the shotgun between my legs, while my eyes were leveled with the dashboard, when suddenly more shots were fired by the suspect, at both police cars that had the suspect's vehicle sandwiched in, heading westbound out of the city, crossing over the bridge. Shots rang out, my partner screamed "Mom!" suddenly we spun out on top of the bridge, me not realizing it; my partner had been shot twice, one bullet behind his left ear, not penetrating his scalp, the other shot, piercing the side of his vest; which if it didn't would have exited the other side striking me in my head. But God allowed me to step out with faith twice, once surviving the shootout, and second, surviving the mistreatment of the Atlantic City Police Department, but God had me when I didn't have myself. Some thirty plus years later, I give the testimony of "My Bridge Over Troubled Waters."