By Valerie Schremp Hahn
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. — Meg Hoelzer remembers being worried for her husband the night of Nov. 24.
The region was braced for violence and riots because of the grand jury decision in the Michael Brown case and her husband, University City police Officer Zachary Hoelzer, would be out patrolling the streets.
The couple, married just a few months, had talked in general about what would happen if he were hurt, or worse, while on duty. But Meg Hoelzer knew she couldn’t dwell on such things.
That day, she came home early from her job as a teaching assistant so she could see her husband before he left. She nervously followed him around the house as he got ready. “I felt so dumb for it,” she said. “I couldn’t really shake it.”
He called her later during his shift to say that he was with a partner that night, which was unusual, and that things seemed quiet. Any unrest was miles away. So she turned off the news and got ready for bed.
But not long after, she got a call from the hospital. He had been shot, he was stable, but he was still seriously hurt.
Hoelzer’s lieutenant had driven him to St. Mary’s Health Center in a patrol car. Hoelzer had managed to unbutton his shirt, and tell emergency staff his wife’s name and phone number, his blood type and distance he was shot from. But soon he had lost so much blood his skin turned as pale as the hospital sheets. The whites of his eyes turned purple, his blood pressure plummeted, and he stopped breathing.
Doctors got him breathing again, and he was transferred to St. Louis University Hospital, where he stayed for two weeks.
The Hoelzers were overwhelmed with the support and care they received and from members of the St. Louis Police Wives’ Association, which secured parking spaces and a gathering room at the hospital for the Hoelzer’s family and brought in food. The kindness came as the group was already supporting officers during the grand jury aftermath.
Hoelzer’s shooting was unrelated to the protests and violence that followed the grand jury announcement. He was shot while answering a burglary call involving Major Washington, 33, who had earlier shot and killed his own mother in University City. Washington was killed a little more than a day later during a standoff in Hanley Hills, but not before shooting and wounding two FBI agents.
Hoelzer was shot twice in the upper left arm. One bullet, still inside his chest, tore through a bundle of nerves called the brachial plexus.
The shooting left Hoelzer with very little use of his left arm and fingers. He’s in therapy three times a week to regain strength and teach his nerves how to work again. If nerves regenerate, it takes about nine months to do so, and so he may not know his long-term prognosis until this summer.
He’s in constant pain, and takes daily cocktails of pain medications and blood thinners. Those affect his short-term memory and ability to sleep. Everything, including cleaning up his breakfast dishes or washing his hair, takes two to four times as long.
Still, he focuses on the now.
“I focus on: today I was able to wiggle my pointer finger. That’s awesome. My co-workers took me out for breakfast. That’s great.”
Zach, 30, and Meg, 27, married in July. They have a house in Richmond Heights, two lumbering, sweethearted dogs named Kolby and Kahlua, and a close circle of friends and family.
Hoelzer has been on the University City force for six years, and chose that department because he knew he would walk more foot beats than he would with others. “I tend to be pretty good with people,” he said.
Hoelzer was the first University City Police officer to be shot since Sgt. Michael King was killed by a gunman while sitting in his patrol car in the Delmar Loop on Oct. 31, 2008. Hoelzer said officers felt helpless because they couldn’t help King that night. But they can help Hoelzer, and that has helped them. “It’s good to see someone pull through,” he said. “It’s great for them.”
Hoezler is grateful when other officers take him out for a milkshake or drive him to and from therapy appointments.
He’s on paid medical leave from the police department, but isn’t getting the overtime money he relied on as a savings cushion. In addition to working as a teacher’s assistant, Meg Hoelzer works at a wine bar and attends graduate school. They had wanted to go on a honeymoon this year, maybe start a family soon, but those plans are on hold for awhile.
“I haven’t been angry at all,” he says. “It is what it is. You can’t change it. I’ve had bouts of worry because I feel like this is a part of my life where I don’t have control.”
Zach Hoelzer’s best friend and cousin, Phil Bess, set up a Gofundme account for the couple. “Zach is just a really great guy,” said Bess. “He’s unassuming, he’s got a very genuine nature, a very honest person.
“He’s left a very good impression on people. All of that is coming back to him, and it’s just so great to see.”
Hoelzer is humbled by the support. “It’s awesome and completely unexpected,” he said. “Keeping going is easier knowing I have such a positive group of people around me.”
To donate to the Zach and Meg Hoelzer Support Fund, visit www.gofundme.com/k2as3w.
Copyright 2015 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch