Jason Fishburn, shot by fleeing suspect 2 months ago, is cheered at Fever game
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By Heather Gillers
The Indianapolis Star
INDIANAPOLIS — The Fishburns were rooting for the Indiana Fever at Conseco Fieldhouse. on Thursday night. But they knew the evening was a victory before the first point was scored.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer Jason Fishburn, who was shot in the head two months ago by a fleeing homicide suspect, was watching the basketball game with them from the suite of Simon family. He had been released from a rehabilitation facility Thursday morning.
“Jason did exactly as Dorothy did,” Jason’s father, Dennis Fishburn, told reporters. “He said, ‘There’s no place like home.’ And he’s back.”
Flanked by Mayor Greg Ballard and IMPD Chief Michael Spears, Dennis Fishburn gave an update on his son’s condition. He said Fishburn -- who had been shot on the left side of his head and in the torso, where his body armor protected him -- has regained limited movement in his right arm. Fishburn is walking, sometimes without assistance, and speaking, family members said. But he sometimes has trouble articulating his thoughts, and did not speak to reporters Thursday.
Relatives said Fishburn will continue outpatient therapy two or three times a week and will need additional surgery.
A Fever jersey with his last name on it was presented to the officer’s parents at a half-time ceremony in the suite. As fans rose to their feet, Jason Fishburn also stood. A Fever cap covered his head injury. His wife, Tonya, held his arm. Fever fans cheered and clapped.
Dennis Fishburn said displays of public support leave his son slightly overwhelmed.
“He’s a police officer, he’s a husband, and that’s how he views himself -- nobody important,” his father said.
The mayor and the police chief disagreed.
“Our city is so much better for having them on the police,” Ballard said of Fishburn, 29, and his father, a sergeant who works in the IMPD property recovery unit.
Spears described Fishburn as a patriot and a hero and called it poignant that his homecoming came seven years to the day after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Jason’s uncle Steven Fishburn also found it appropriate that his nephew left the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana on the anniversary of the day the World Trade Center collapsed.
“When many people were running out, our first responders were running in, and that’s kind of what Jason did,” Steven Fishburn said. “He was chasing somebody and he didn’t know what was in store. He just did it.”
Copyright 2008 The Indianapolis Star