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TAYLORSVILLE — A lot of people weren't sure Michael McPhie was making the right decision when he changed careers. Now with the housing market doing better, it appears his timing was perfect.
"I started a real estate business," said McPhie, from his Right Move Utah office in Taylorsville. "Things are good. I've had a lot of support from friends and family."
Of course, when his last career ended underneath an overpass in West Valley City, no one would blame him for wanting to do something different.
"I was shot through both thighs and lost use of my left calf and achilles tendon as a result of it," McPhie said.
On June 24, 2001, McPhie was still an officer with the West Valley City Police Department. He and his partner got into a shootout with a felon. They lived. The felon didn't.
However, for McPhie, that moment changed everything.
"From a physical aspect, I knew I couldn't perform my duties anymore to where I could before, to the standard I guess I held myself to," McPhie said. "Then sometimes, as painful as it is to admit, mentally, I kind of just wasn't there anymore."
McPhie knows how close he was to being one of the names on the Law Enforcement Memorial at the State Capitol. He knew he had to leave, but it wasn't easy.
"Yeah, I think part of me felt like I was letting my guys and the guys I work with down, leaving them to deal with everything," McPhie said. "I spent 15 years building this macho reputation and chasing bad guys, and I felt that was all going to be undone by admitting I needed help."
McPhie eventually decided to leave law enforcement behind and get into real estate. His adrenaline doesn't rush nearly as much as it used to.
"I often joke with my clients to run from me, let me chase them over a fence or something to get a contract signed. But no one has taken my offer yet," McPhie said with a laugh.
When he watched the funeral for Unified Police officer Doug Barney this week, it hit him all over again. He had to do something, so he decided to offer half-off real estate services for first responders.
"(The funeral) was the catalyst, I think. It was kind of the nudge to stop thinking about it and do it," McPhie said.
Even knowing the risk, McPhie said there's nothing like being a law enforcement officer and admitted there are times he misses it.
"Every time I see a police-related story, the first thought I have is I wish I was there. I wish it was me that was there," he said.
It's that brotherhood McPhie still feels a part of, and a brotherhood he wants to help anyway he can.
