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PROVO — The wife of wounded Utah County Sheriff's Deputy Greg Sherwood shared some good news Monday about her husband’s improving condition.
Eleven days after Greg Sherwood was shot during a violent crime spree in Utah and Juab counties, his wife, Gina Sherwood, spoke with reporters at a press conference held at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.
The shooting
Gina Sherwood said her husband is up and walking and is expected to make a full recovery. She said Greg Sherwood remembers everything that happened when he tried to pull over the suspects in the fatal shooting of Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Cory Wride. But moments later, he too was shot through his windshield.
Gina Sherwood said she’ll never forget the moment when a Spanish Fork police officer came to her door on the afternoon of Jan. 30.
“When John knocked on my door I was like, ‘Hey, come on in,’” Gina Sherwood said. “And he was like, ‘It’s not good news.’ And he told me, ‘Greg has been shot.’”
She said she was incomplete shock, and the past 10 days have been a roller coaster for her.
“It’s horrible to see someone you love so much, and see how hurt they are,” Gina Sherwood said. “But (I’m) so grateful he didn’t die and it wasn’t worse.”
Just moments after Greg Sherwood spotted the suspect in I-15 in Santaquin, Utah, shots rang out.
It's horrible to see someone you love so much, and see how hurt they are. But (I'm) so grateful he didn't die and it wasn't worse.
–Gina Sherwood, wife of injured deputy
“All of the sudden he heard glass breaking, and it felt like he had been hit in the head with a sledge hammer,” his wife told reporters. “He said he couldn’t see anything. He was seeing stars.”
Greg Sherwood was rushed to the hospital, and doctors believe he will make a full recovery.
“The miracle part of that is that the bullet moved from inside his brain to being between his brain and his skull,” Gina Sherwood said.
She told reporters her family’s thoughts remain with Wride's family.
“I actually went to Cory’s gravesite and was able to lay flowers there,” she said, “and I (stood) there and think: I could have been burying my husband right now.”
Campaigning for more protection
Within hours of the shooting, the Wride family began to wonder whether more protection on his squad car would have made a difference, and they began a campaign to get bulletproof police vehicles.
"If (Greg Sherwood) would have had that protective windshield, and if Cory had, Cory would be with us, and Greg would be out patrolling with the dog," Gina Sherwood said.
She says she is "100 percent" behind the idea.
"They need it," she said. "(Nannette Wride) and I talked about that the day after Cory was killed, and I told her I have her back and we're going to do it together."
If (Greg Sherwood) would have had that protective windshield, and if Cory had, Cory would be with us, and Greg would be out patrolling with the dog.
–Gina Sherwood, injured deputy's wife
The Wride family has a petition on the White House's "We The People" website seeking support for the bulletproof glass, aiming for 100,000 signatures by March 7.
The Utah County Sheriff's Office is evaluating options for better protecting the patrol cars — which range from placing a bullet-resistant film on the glass to completely replacing the windows with armored ones — as well as options to pay for them.
From reports he has seen, Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon said upping vehicle protections could cost between $3,000 and $15,000 for each of the department's 50 or more patrol vehicles.
"(Wride and Greg Sherwood) certainly would not have been shot through the windshield had they had bulletproof glass or some kind of protective glass," Cannon said. "We have a hard time saying that there is a cost that would be too expensive to protect them."
Budget realities will be a major factor in whatever protection the department decides to seek, Cannon said. Any donations, sponsorships or other funding will be gladly considered.
"The Utah County government runs a pretty tight ship financially already, so there's not a lot of wiggle room for extra expenditures that come up unexpectedly, but they're going to be looking at it," said Cannon, explaining that while there is no timeline set for when fortifications could be purchased, the department will push to do it this year, if possible.
Road to recovery
Gina Sherwood said she will support her husband when he returns to work as a sheriff's deputy.
“We’re a law enforcement family, and it honestly doesn’t scare me. I might be different the first day back to work, but I know it’s a job he loves to do and he’s going to continue to do it, and I’m OK with that.”
Greg Sherwood will remain in a rehab unit for another 10 days before going home. Since he will be a witness in the prosecution of the 17-year-old girl who was with suspect Jose Garcia, the sheriff is not allowing him to talk about what happened.
