By Meridith Edwards and Ed Lavandera
CNN
MIAMI — He had to stay alive for his family.
The thought flashed through his mind as the serrated edge of a long knife cut across his chest. Miami-Dade Police Officer Mario Gutierrez was thrashing on the ground in a violent struggle with a man who was trying to set fire to a gas station. Such a massive explosion could kill hundreds of people nearby.
“When he stabbed me and I thought of my family, I became the predator, and he became the prey, and that’s why I survived,” Gutierrez said of the primal instincts he felt during the fight of his life on the streets of Miami. “That is what saved my life: my training and my determination to survive.”
The evening in October 2013 started off as a slow one for Gutierrez. He was patrolling a busy intersection near Miami International Airport when he noticed something unusual: clouds of smoke coming from the ground at a Shell gas station.
Full story: Determination saved officer in fight with would-be arsonist