http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_2945055

The Force is with him
"For the kids," police officer returns to school where drunk driver hit him
By Amy Herdy
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com

Denver police officer Robert "Robby" Bryant still wonders what would have happened if it had been a child, not him, who took the hit from a drunken driver while standing outside Force Elementary School more than a year ago.

"I'm 6 foot, 200 pounds, and it cleaned my clock," Bryant, 36, said Monday of the Jan. 22, 2004, impact that shattered his left leg and left shoulder and gave him a traumatic brain injury. "If I'd been a 7-year-old with my backpack running across the street - what would have happened to them?"

After months of difficult rehabilitation that included therapy to regain his full speech and full range of motion, Bryant stepped back into the street outside Force Elementary on Monday for the first time since nearly dying there, a new titanium rod in his left leg, a radar detector in his hand and a steely message for drunken drivers.

"There will be no tolerance. No breaks," said Bryant, a 10-year veteran. "I'll be professional ... but you're going to jail."

The day he was hit, Bryant was flagging down speeders outside the school on West Florida Avenue shortly before dismissal when the driver of a green pickup gunned its engine. Nineteen-year-old Javier Cruz- Caballero, who was drunk, struck Bryant at an estimated 45 to 50 mph, as horrified children and teachers watched from the school.

Bryant, who was thrown about 50 feet, hit a street sign before ending up unconscious on the grass.

"It was awful," said Force Elementary principal Ann Myers. "I remember flying out the door, my cellphone in my hand, looking at his body. ... It was an extremely traumatic time, for the school, for the kids."

Cruz-Caballero, an illegal immigrant without a driver's license, fled in his car but was caught after he crashed a few blocks away. He is now serving nine years in prison on charges that include drunken driving and assault on a police officer.

Bryant has no memory of that day. Along with the crushed bones in his shoulder and leg, the crash impacted the front left lobe of his brain.

"I've lost a lot of my memory," Bryant said, including scenes from his childhood.

In and out of consciousness for the first month after being hit, Bryant, who is not married, did not recognize many people at first, including his mother, whom the Police Department flew back and forth from her home out of state to help care for him.

Then came the rigorous task of becoming a police officer again. Allowed to come back to a desk job last August, Bryant had to retest for everything, from a basic driver's test to gun-handling recertification to proving he could handle arrests. He was back on citywide patrol two months later.

"His energy and effort were nothing short of miraculous and courageous," said Capt. Eric Rubin, commander of Denver police traffic operations. "He showed such guts and desire to come back and do this job."

Today, Bryant says he's grateful for the support of the department and for the students of Force Elementary, whose cards and drawings covered the walls of his hospital room.

"It's all I ever wanted to do," he said of his job as a police officer, nodding toward the street outside the school. "I'm out here for the kids."