![]() “I’m pretty sure nothing about me says weak. “There’s a stigma in law enforcement,” Matson said. In describing the psychological impact, Matson said he goes to therapy - he calls it “happy school” - twice a week. It took him two years before he could return to work. It felt like walking on a flipper, Matson said. Because he can’t feel below his knee, he had a drop foot. “Since the incident, I haven’t had a day without pain.”Īfter the attack, he spent 16 weeks in the hospital and rehab and another six weeks living in a SWAT team member’s basement because he couldn’t maneuver steps. ![]() “It started taking its toll on me,” he said. On a pain scale of 1 to 10, he told the jury, he was at a 15 or 20. “Will I walk again?” Matson said he asked in the hospital. He had compartment syndrome in his arm and leg and had to endure a fasciotomy and later skin grafts to try to close the wounds. He had the same on his left arm for his shattered elbow and cut tendon. He was shot in the left leg and had an external fixator - rods and screws drilled into his bones on the outside - to hold it together. He was shot in the head and had to have a surgery to place a drain in the wound. Matson, who spent about 30 minutes testifying, detailed for the jurors the injuries he suffered, describing in graphic detail images displayed for them showing his wounds, x-rays and the surgical repairs he’s endured. She will return to the stand on Thursday. “This is what we could call an extraordinary dose of trauma and risk for someone who’s not yet 2 years old,” said Dr. She spent about two hours on the witness stand, describing for the jury the defendant’s tumultuous family history and chronicling traumatic events throughout his early childhood. Immediately, the defense began its case in mitigation, calling an expert in clinical psychology and trauma who conducted a psychosocial history of Bowers, including reviewing 21,000 pages of documents and interviewing 17 of his family members, neighbors and others who knew him. The prosecution, which called 22 witnesses as part of victim impact testimony, rested Wednesday afternoon. The government is seeking the death penalty, while the defense argues their client’s mental illness and troubled childhood mean he ought to be sentenced to life in prison. Jerry Rabinowitz, 66 Joyce Fienberg, 75 Melvin Wax, 87 and Richard Gottfried, 65. Killed were Rose Mallinger, 97 Bernice Simon, 84, and Sylvan Simon, 86 brothers David Rosenthal, 54, and Cecil Rosenthal, 59 Dan Stein, 71 Irv Younger, 69 Dr. 27, 2018, at the Squirrel Hill synagogue that housed three congregations: Tree of Life-Or L’Simcha, Dor Hadash and New Light congregations who were worshiping at the synagogue that day. He was one of five witnesses called to testify Wednesday in the sentence selection phase of the trial for Robert Bowers, the man found guilty of killing 11 people and wounding four police officers Oct. Once it formed a root ball, he put it in potting soil.Īnd now it’s growing in the soil on his porch. “It’s time to get to work,” he said to himself.Īs he rededicated himself to recovery, Matson put the weed in water in the bucket. He remembered all the people in his life who cared about him - even strangers. “Man, that’s one tough (expletive) weed,” he said he remembered thinking. ![]() He saw a fishing bucket he’d left in his yard. ![]() One day, after his friend had weed-whacked for him, Matson walked outside of his house. Matson, who is about 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 315 pounds, knew he’d never be the same. Shot in the head, both legs, and arm, he was in constant pain. Months after he was shot multiple times responding to an active shooter at the Tree of Life synagogue building in Squirrel Hill, Matson said Wednesday, he remained in a dark place. There’s a weed growing in a bucket on Pittsburgh police SWAT Officer Tim Matson’s porch. ![]()
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