How the SWAT sergeant crushed by a fire truck fought his way back to duty

[[{“value”:”

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to follow and signup for notifications!

You often hear the term “crushing it” these days. Well, here is the story of Sergeant Justin Dodge, who literally faced a crushing challenge and truly crushed it.

Law enforcement was in his DNA

From the beginning, it would seem Justin Dodge was destined to be a police officer. After all, his grandfather was a police officer sworn in during the 1940s. Grandpa eventually became chief of police in Racine, Wisconsin.

Justin’s father, on the other hand, was sworn into the U.S. Marshals Service in the 1960s and served out of the Minneapolis office.

| WATCH: Evolving training and team structure for modern SWAT operations

Justin’s calling

Justin initially wanted to become a teacher and was teaching special needs children with his mom when it came to him like a bolt out of the blue. One day he realized, “I wanted to be a guardian.”

Upon joining the Denver Police Department, Justin immediately knew he had made the right career choice. “I was the one that wanted to go to the in-progress calls,” he said. “That’s what excited me — the hot call, the robbery in progress, the shootings. I always wanted to be part of the action.”

To better prepare himself to be “the best guardian possible,” Justin trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, eventually becoming a second-degree black belt.

He was driven to train in all police disciplines, with a strong desire to be prepared to handle the worst-case scenario. His quest for excellence led him to Denver’s full-time SWAT team, which he joined in 2005.

Justin Dodge loved it then — and loves it still.

Career in SWAT and Justin’s prehab

In his 20 years with the full-time SWAT team, Justin and his team members have answered thousands of the most challenging calls in law enforcement, including about a dozen successful hostage rescues and four mass casualty events. He has served as a sniper and is currently a team leader.

Part of his duties has been to train others in SWAT tactics and responding to active shooter events for police officers and other public safety partners.

Justin’s personal training in fitness — and the mental toughness that came with it — would serve him well when he was presented with the most difficult SWAT challenge he could have ever imagined.

Crushing it

On June 15, 2023, Sgt. Justin Dodge was serving as a member of a SWAT quick reaction team. The Denver Nuggets had just won the NBA Championship, and the streets were overflowing with an estimated one million fans celebrating the championship win.

“It was sunny and warm with clear skies,” Sgt. Dodge recalled.

Riding on the last large fire truck in the parade were the Kroenkes — the owners — and the team’s biggest stars, holding the NBA Championship Trophy. “The crowd disregarded the barricades and pushed toward the truck,” Dodge said. “They surrounded it. We rescued it and got it moving again. This was not an easy feat and took an ongoing effort.”

Dodge’s unit formed up alongside the fire truck to keep the crowd from climbing onto or falling under the vehicle. “At times the rush turned into a crush, and the crowd was smashing us into the truck,” he said. For 45 minutes, the truck inched its way through the mass of humanity, which, according to Dodge, “waned back and forth between celebratory and total chaos.”

The moment came when, after 45 minutes of holding the crowd back, the truck began to make a turn. “The tire came out about three feet as it made the turn and caught the backside of my foot,” Dodge recalled.

In that instant, he realized he had a millisecond to react. Feeling everything in his foot and lower leg being crushed under the wheel, he knew that if he didn’t make the right move, he would not survive the day. He deliberately knelt on the ground, sacrificing his lower leg to the weight of the truck.

| RELATED: Denver PD sergeant hurt in parade returns to SWAT after leg amputation

“My entire lower leg was crushed and degloved below the knee,” Dodge said. “But by dropping to my knee, I prevented an even more dire outcome. No question in my mind, this movement — which only took out my lower leg — saved my life.”

Realizing the truck was moving only a quarter to half a mile per hour, which made the moment feel eternal, I asked the sergeant what was going through his mind.

“I could feel everything being crushed beneath the tire,” he said, “but two things — how to mitigate the damage, and if I make it out from under this wheel alive, I’m going back to SWAT.”

Once Dodge was out from under the tire, the damage to the lower leg was clearly total and the bleeding life-threatening. His fellow officers reacted quickly, applying two tourniquets that ensured Sgt. Dodge would live.

From prehab to rehab to crushing it again

Justin survived and remarkably adjusted to his new circumstances. He credits his success to his physical and mental preparation before the incident — what he calls his “prehab,” a foundation of mental, physical, emotional and spiritual conditioning done in advance.

“My prehab ensured I would obtain the best results in my rehab,” he said.

Justin transitioned immediately from prehab to rehab, deciding to “crush the hard” and achieve what he called his “heavy victory.” The minute he came out of his first surgery, he had training bands brought to his hospital room so he could begin his workout regimen from bed. “When you’re able to do only a little,” he said, “it’s better to do a little than to do nothing at all.”

He has endured eight more surgeries to prepare for his future. Surgery number four was an amputation of the leg below the knee.

Photo/Justin Dodge

Rehab for a return to SWAT

Even though the injury was severe, Justin was determined to return — not only to his department but to his assignment on the SWAT team. He said he was greatly aided by his Chief Ron Thomas and Division Chief Rick Kyle.

“The support they showed me served to benefit the morale of the department,” Dodge said, “because everyone could see the department supporting my return to full duty on the SWAT unit.”

Justin began training with former Denver Nuggets performance trainer Steve Hess. The training was grueling — not at Hess’s insistence, but because Justin said, “I did not want to come back in any way as a token. I wanted to be a totally relevant and capable cop on the street. I put more pressure on myself to do that than my doctors, my trainer, or my teammates.”

Photo/Justin Dodge

He crushed the hard

Since the injury, Sgt. Dodge has undergone nine surgeries, including skin grafts to accommodate the prosthesis. He spent a full month in the hospital.

Between surgeries, Justin would immediately hit the gym rather than wait for weeks before restarting, saying, “I went in and did what I could do.” His motto became “I will crush the hard.” His road back was indeed hard — but he was determined he would crush it.

| WATCH: Sgt. Dodge’s story reached a national audience when PBS featured him in its Project Kaboom documentary series, which profiles individuals who rebuild their lives after catastrophic injuries. Viewers watched him train, adapt and ultimately return to SWAT — not as a symbol of survival, but of purpose. The documentary captured the moment he geared up with his team for the first time since the accident, underscoring his belief that recovery isn’t about what you’ve lost, but about what you refuse to give up.

His return

On May 15, 2024, less than one year after the accident, Justin found himself geared up and ready to go on his first operation with his team since the injury. He later said of it in a PBS documentary, “As it (the search warrant) was happening, I was right back in the game — back to being part of the team, one of the team leaders. It was almost anticlimactic to do this operation and felt very comfortable.”

However, for anyone watching from the moment he was pulled out from under that 80,000-pound “beast” of a fire truck until he leapt from the tactical vehicle in full gear with his teammates, his recovery and return would have to be described as astonishingly outstanding.

Wisdom shared

I asked Sgt. Dodge if he had any wisdom, born from his experience, that he could share with others facing similarly heavy burdens. He shared:

1. Prehab — work to become mentally, physically, and emotionally strong before difficult challenges arise, and you’ll be better prepared to meet them.
2. Be resilient — no matter what knocks you down, always get back up.
3. Remember — what you do for your career is what you do, not who you are.
4. Share experiences — Talk with other survivors rather than just comparing yourself to them.

His future

Sgt. Dodge could retire, but he says he wants to stay two more years. A trainer for about 30 years, he now wants to combine his teaching ability with his “heavy victory” to speak and inspire others — both in law enforcement and beyond.

“Police work is hard,” he said. “Many officers find themselves struggling. I believe I can teach others to set aside the word ‘can’t’ and become determined to crush the hard.”

When Sgt. Justin Dodge does retire, it will not mark the end of his magnificent story but the beginning of his next chapter — transforming from guardian to trainer of guardians, teaching others how to crush the hard, win the heavy victory, and, as Justin puts it, “become heroes in their own story.”

Contact Sgt. Justin Dodge at https://heavyvictory.com/ and on Instagram.

What’s one way you build resilience in yourself or your SWAT team? Share below.

“}]]