Breach Your Mind
Explore life's depths and unlock the secrets of mental well-being on "Breach Your Mind." Join us as we navigate the intricacies of the human experience, offering insights, inspiration, and practical strategies for a fulfilling life. Get ready to breach the barriers of conventional thinking, embrace self-discovery, and nurture your mental health. Let's embark on a transformative journey together. Welcome to Breach Your Mind.
Breach Your Mind
Overcoming the Odds: Jared Reston's Story of Survival and Resilience
Can you imagine facing a life-threatening situation and emerging not only alive but more determined than ever? This gripping episode of our Resilience Series on the Breach Your Mind podcast features the astounding story of Jared Reston, a law enforcement officer who survived being shot seven times. Jared's incredible journey of recovery and continued dedication to his career will leave you inspired and reflective on your own capacity for resilience in the face of adversity.
As we launch this series, we're not just sharing stories; we're building a community. Your own stories of resilience matter, whether you've faced personal demons, navigated professional challenges, or overcome unexpected hurdles. We invite you to share these experiences with us, promising anonymity to ensure your comfort and security. By fostering a network of shared narratives, we aim to create a ripple effect of empowerment and inspiration, transcending individual experiences to uplift an entire community.
Storytelling is a profound connector, and we encourage you to reach out through social media or email, choosing the medium that best suits your comfort level. This episode is not only an invitation to listen but also a call to participate and amplify your voice. Together, let's harness our collective resilience, turning personal trials into powerful narratives that can impact and inspire others. Your engagement makes all the difference, and we’re grateful for every story that shapes our growing community.
Team 1, stand by Copy. Team 1, standing by Breach, breach, breach. Hey guys, what's going on? Welcome back to the Breach your Mind podcast.
Speaker 1:If a lot of you remember, back a little while back, I put out a call. I made a call to everyone that watched the podcast or consumed any of my content to reach out to me, whether it's through email messages, what have you? But? Reach out to me with your stories, Tell me your stories and let's get your story heard by others Because, like I said then, my stories don't resonate with everybody. It's only one standpoint and people may not be able to resonate with that, but they might with yours. So I wanted to give you guys a chance to help out and get your story out there, get your story of resilience out there to others who may be going through the same thing, and give y'all a chance to help someone else, and in that regard, you guys have. There's been several of you that have reached out. You either sent me a message or emailed me and told me that you had something going on.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, I do think that the purpose or the act of simply going and telling that story to everyone yourself has caused you to be a little gun shy, and that's fine. Telling something on a podcast, especially when your face or your actual voice is heard, it's difficult, and I know how difficult it is because, despite how it looks, I don't like the camera. I don't like talking either. Despite how it looks, I don't like the camera, I don't like talking either, but I do it and I get through it. So I understand that. But what I will ask is that you keep your stories coming, that you keep reaching out to me and in doing so, if it's not something you're comfortable with, if you're not comfortable doing a live meeting or a live interview with me comfortable with, if you're not comfortable doing a live meeting or a live interview with me or a recorded interview with me, just tell me your story. Send me an email with your story at breachyourmindcom so that I can get your story out there and we can tailor it however you need to. We can put your name in it, not put your name in it. You know whatever you want to get your story out there that you think might help somebody else Reach out to me, so we can put your name in it, not put your name in it. You know whatever you want to get your story out there that you think might help somebody else reach out to me so we can get that out there.
Speaker 1:Because when I put that call out to start this series on resilience, it wasn't a one-time thing. It's a constant thing. I think resilience is something that we need to keep working on and all of us need to keep developing, even even if we already are a resilient individual. We need to keep developing that, you know, because what winds up happening when we are resilient individuals is we are able to pass that on to others, we're able to share that with other people and help make them more resilient as well, and that's what we need. That's what we need to get to. That's a goal for us all to accomplish, and I need y'all's help to do that, because I can't do it alone. So, in that spirit, tonight what we're going to do is we're going to start our resilient series.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, the subject of tonight's podcast I wasn't able to get that person on live with an interview. I'm hoping that'll change, so if it comes across, please consider it. But this individual's story changed a lot of things for me. It changed my perspective, not only in how I do my job, but it changed perspective for how I see things in life, and it made such an immense impact on extent that I can pretty much memorize what he said and say it. You know, I can tell that story without a whole lot of references For the purposes of this podcast. I actually went back and took some notes just to make sure I didn't get some things wrong, and that's where I'm going to go tonight. That's what we're going to do is I'm going to start off this series on resilience with something that changed me, and it's not my story, it's someone else's. It happened after I'd already started doing my own job, and that's what I want to focus on. That's what I want to do is I want to start off this series and hopefully encourage the rest of you to send your stories or be willing to come on and interview with me so that we could get your story out to everybody else as well.
Speaker 1:So, without further ado, let's go ahead and jump into the story. Hq Rescue 1068, 9400. Atlantic Officer down 252, depth 242. Jump into the story at the storage place Nightwater. Atlantic Officer down Rescue 1068.
Speaker 1:This particular story is a man by the name of Jared Reston. Some of you may know him, some of you may be familiar with him, you may be familiar with his story, but if you're not, I'll enlighten you. So Jared Reston was a deputy down in Jacksonville, florida. He specifically worked for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and on January 26, 2008, which is two years after I got onto the job January 26, 2008, jared Reston was working at the Regency Mall and he was working off duty. Him and his partner were sitting in the security booth and they're watching the security cameras I don't know how many security cameras were there, but they're watching the security cameras and they're just working off duty assisting the mall cops security, assisting them with doing their job. And they're sitting there and they're watching these cameras and they hear it come over the radio and they can see it on the camera. That mall security has got a couple of subjects that they're dealing with and the individuals were caught shoplifting. So mall security's jumping in and they're trying to do their things. They're putting the call out over the radio. So Jared Reston and his partner and sir, I apologize, I don't recall your name. It's not intentional. I mean no disrespect by it, but Jared Reston and his partner get up and they run down to go assist mall security as they get down to where they've got one subject. Mall security has got him hemmed up and they're dealing with him and they said the other one's running, he's going go get him.
Speaker 1:So Jared and his partner take off running and I'm sure many of you have gone to a mall. You understand how big they are and how big parking lots are and they're never usually in a small place. It's usually a pretty busy area and that's the way it is down in Jacksonville. So Jared and his partner take off. They're going across this park a lot. They see him and they take off after him. Both of them take off running and it's a foot pursuit. He sees them, they see him and the race is on. They're off to it. As they're running along and listening to Jared tell his story on I believe it was Police 1. It was an interview on Police 1.
Speaker 1:Listening to Jared tell his story, his partner started getting gassed out, which if you've never ran, I don't care how fit you are, but if you've never ran wearing full gear vest, belt, belts or boots, all the gear that we got to carry it adds a lot to you. You know, when you're starting to add 20, 25 pounds to your body and running. That takes a lot out of you. But his partner started getting gassed and you know he told Jared, you know, get him. So Jared kept going and, according to what I could find, they wound up running across like a six-lane highway and running down into like a drainage pond. When Jared gets to him, you know when he's telling his story, and I would love nothing more than to, post-production, put that Police One video in here for him to tell it and for you to hear it in his own words. But copyright issues. You know I'm not trying to get in trouble, but Jared says he runs after him and as he gets to him the guy stops and turns around and takes a fighting stance and as Jared gets to him the fight's on, they're struggling and they're fighting and all of a sudden he felt like he got hit with this massive uppercut and it just, you know, it kind of laid him out.
Speaker 1:Jared goes down and he hits the ground. He falls down into this dried drainage pond, this drainage area. Down into this dried drainage pond, this drainage area, he falls down. And that's when he realized that what had actually happened was he wasn't punched, the suspect didn't catch a lucky shot, he didn't break Jared's defenses and get a good lucky shot on his jaw. Nothing like that. It was a lot worse.
Speaker 1:What wound up happening is, when this subject got the opportunity, he pulled out his Glock pistol and discharged a round. That round came up through Jared's jaw, exited out the back side of it and that's what he felt. That was the uppercut that took him down. He collapses into this drainage pond and the subject turns to him and he's now aiming down at him. He's aiming down at him and he's firing.
Speaker 1:He hits Jared a total of, I believe, seven times. He caught three in the vest, one in the thigh, obviously, or the jaw, three in the vest, one in the thigh, obviously, or the jaw, one in the thigh, one in his buttocks and one in his elbow. This guy has riddled him up. Jared's been hit seven times and, yeah, he's wearing a vest. He's wearing that vest. But if you have any idea of what these vests are, it's not some big, hard, thick plate that we typically wear. It's not that. That's a special use purpose carrier, and even then it's going to hurt. We wear a soft armor. So when that round hits that soft armor, we're going to feel it. Imagine someone taking a ball, pin, hammer and cracking you square in the chest just as hard as they can, and you've got something about that thick, maybe thinner, between that hammer and your sternum. You're going to feel that. You're going to feel it. He took those three plus the other four thigh, the buttocks, the elbow and the jaw. Seven rounds total is what he took.
Speaker 1:So he's laying there in this retention pond or drainage pond, whatever you want to call it. He's laying there in this thing and he's been shot and none of them are good hits, none of them are ones you're like God, it's fine, it's a flesh wound, we'll move on. It's not that you know, especially the one that hit him in the face. You know all of these are disabling shots. So he's laying there and the suspect wound up being a young male by the name of Joel Abner.
Speaker 1:Later they found out that and I could be mistaken because I couldn't find it in my research, but I remember it from the video that at the time that this all happened, joel had no criminal record. He'd never been convicted of a crime. So for all intents and purposes, this is the first crime that anyone ever knew he'd committed, and it was shoplifting, and he made the option to unalive a law enforcement officer over some clothes, over not getting in trouble for what would likely have been a misdemeanor charge, he decided and made the choice that he was going to try to take the life of a law enforcement officer. So Mr Abner has delivered these seven shots to Jared and Jared's laying in this drainage pond or this retention pond and he's bleeding. Abner thinks that he's done it, he's offed him, he's free, he can go on about his life. So he turns and he starts to walk away. And it's at that moment, as Jared describes, while he was laying there in this retention pond and he's watching this man, this young man who's just shot him, walk away from him. And it made him mad. He wasn't scared, he wasn't fearful of death, he got mad. He got mad that this individual made this choice and then just expected him to die. And he fought through it because he made the decision that he wasn't going to be the only one that went out. So, after taking seven rounds, three to his protective gear and then four to the rest of his body, one which was a face shot, jared made the decision that it wasn't going to be just him. It wasn't going to be just him If he was going to meet his maker. He's going to bring somebody with him. So Jared musters up the strength, he finds that intestinal fortitude. He rolls up onto his hip and he pulls his service weapon from his hip.
Speaker 1:Well, during this time, abner, from what Jared said, abner must have hurt him. Because he turns around and sees Jared rolling up and pulling his weapon. Abner realizes he hadn't done the job quite as good as he thought. So he turns around and starts to re-approach. He wants to come back and finish the job that he started, because now, now he can't, he can't just walk away from it like it is. So as he turns, he's coming back up with his weapon. Jared finds that strength, gets his weapon out, levels out and starts squeezing off rounds. Boom, boom, boom. Starts squeezing off rounds. Boom, boom, boom. He's not hitting him, but he's close.
Speaker 1:And the way Jared describes it was as he's firing these shots at Abner. It was almost as if you were chasing your kid with a squirt gun, the water gun. Now, when you're chasing them, you're trying to get them and they're like ah, that little stream of water is going right behind them and they're tucking in, trying to keep it from hitting. That's what Abner's doing. Jared's walking him in. Well, it happens that he steps in the right spot. Jared's pistol finds its mark, he strikes Abner. Abner falls down into him and as he falls into him, jared said that he caught him. He cradled Abner and delivered two vault shots. And I'd love to go into it. I really would love to go into that, but I honestly don't know what'll get me banned and kicked off. But, that being said, he catches Abner After striking him. He catches him and he delivers two vault shots and the fight was over.
Speaker 1:Now it took me longer to tell that story of what happened to Jared on that day than it took for it to actually occur, and I'm not going to sit here and try to tell you that. I know exactly how long it took, that it was this amount of minutes and this amount of seconds or this amount of seconds. But from my own experience, in situations that are rapidly evolving and require every one of your senses to do their part, time slows down for you, but it continues on, and what may have felt like a lifetime for Jared Reston when he made contact with Joel Abner was only a few seconds in time that forever changed both of their lives and time that forever changed both of their lives. Jared was shot up seven times. Abner was now deceased. His partner gets there, other services get there. They get Jared up, get him to the hospital. He undergoes a lot of surgeries. He's got a long road to recovery, but he doesn't stop.
Speaker 1:After it was said and done, when Jared was healed and recovered medically, he went back to the job. Jared decided that that one day in his life was not going to end the career that he chose to help people and he got back. After him, jared started in law enforcement in 2001. It's about five years before I got on the job. Got in it in 2001. The very beginning of 2008 is when this all happened, so you're talking about the span of about seven years. He had about seven years of experience when this happened and those few seconds changed his life forever. He got up, he got back on the horse and he kept riding. Jared wound up, finishing out a 20-year career in law enforcement. Out. A 20-year career in law enforcement Didn't stay on patrol.
Speaker 1:He worked patrol. He worked as an investigator. He was a SWAT team member. As a SWAT team member, he was involved in over 1,000 operations, some of which required the use of lethal force. For 20 years, jared Reston served his community and did his job. 13 of those, roughly, was after Joel Abner attempted to take his life.
Speaker 1:He didn't let that stop him.
Speaker 1:He had a heart and a passion to help people. Stop him. He had a heart and a passion to help people and despite everything that he went through, despite seven rounds three that pierced his body, four that pierced his body despite that, jared, he didn't let it go. When I tell this story to others, when I tell this story to individuals who are just starting out in this job that I do, I call it the warrior spirit. I call it the warrior spirit because Jared refused to go down. He refused to let that take him out. He refused to let that take him out, despite all the odds and everything that was working against him at that moment. It would have been so easy for him to give up. It would have been so easy for him to accept defeat and lay there in that drainage pond, in that drainage ditch, and that would be the end of his story. But that's not what he did. He's a warrior and like a warrior, he was going to fight until he couldn't fight anymore, and that's what he did.
Speaker 1:For 20 years he worked the job 13,. Roughly 13 of those years was after that day. Since his retirement, he's opened up a company called the Reston Group. There at the Reston Group, he's him and his other cadre instruct courses in firearms, tactics, things of that nature. So even after his retirement from law enforcement, jared Reston is still continuing to try to contribute to his community. He's still teaching people about firearms. He's teaching people about tactics. He's teaching people excuse me, he's teaching people about firearms. He's teaching people about tactics. He's teaching people excuse me, he's teaching people about real world situations and scenarios and things that they can encounter in their lives and how to be better prepared for it. That's what he's doing. After giving 20 years to the citizens of his community, to the citizens of his community, after taking seven rounds from Joel Abner, whose intent was to end his life over a misdemeanor charge, that's what he continues to do Now.
Speaker 1:I don't know how y'all feel about that story. Hopefully I did it justice. In my opinion, I don't do it nowhere near the justice that it deserves. Hearing it from Jared it's a much more impactful thing. But when I watched that police one video and I saw Jared sitting there on that stage doing the interview and I heard him tell a story that made an impact on me, that changed my life, because at the time that that occurred I was a rookie.
Speaker 1:I got into the job in 2006. I didn't know what I was doing. Now we all graduate out of our respective academies and we all go through our training and think we know what we're doing and you get two, three, four years under your belt and you still think you know what you're doing and you don't know anything. You got a little bit of an idea, but you don't know anything. There's a reason the vast majority of us in this profession say that you're not even considered a veteran until you've finished up five years. Say that you're not even considered a veteran until you've finished up five years Because until you've hit that mark, there's no way you've covered most of the things that you're going to encounter in this job. There's no way, in a couple of years, you've been prepared for what comes with living this life. Jared Reston's a warrior and what he had January 26, 2008, was the warrior spirit and as a young rookie of two years roughly in this job not even a full two years as a young rookie, hearing the story of Jared Reston, I was inspired and I was changed. Reston, I was inspired and I was changed.
Speaker 1:My family will tell you that anytime I leave the home they'll say I love you, be careful. And my response is I'll try, I love you too, I'll try. They didn't really like that particular response when I first gave it, because who wants to hear I'll try? Nobody wants to hear that I'll try. Hey, do good on your test. I'll try. Hey, do good at whatever you're doing, I'll try. That's not what they want to hear. They want to hear I will. They want that confirmation. They want the affirmation that you're going to do it. Be careful, I will. They want the affirmation.
Speaker 1:Folks, I'm going to tell you in this line of work and it's not just mine, it's all of public safety, military public safety, military public safety we can be as safe as we want and it not change a thing. We can be as safe as we want and regardless of our actions, we might not make it home. But all we can do is try, and that's why my response was to my family Still is today I'll try, I love you, be careful, have a good day. I'll try, because all I can do is my part, and if I have anything to do with it which I generally do I want to be careful. I'm generally not a stupid individual. I'll try. Jared Rustin is the one that helped me come to that conclusion. There's only so much I can do, but I'm going to do it until I can't do it anymore.
Speaker 1:Jared Rustin's resilience on that day didn't just change my life. It changed the life of a lot more His family, his Joel Abner's family, many of us that have come into this job after he did, many that came into this job after his fateful day. His story has changed lives. His resiliency changed lives. His unwillingness to give up, to continue to be a warrior and fight the fight has changed lives. That's the reason why I wanted to start this series off with this one.
Speaker 1:I wanted to start this series off with it because I hope, if nothing else, even if I didn't convey Jared's story good enough, I hope that you can at least understand the importance of his story to me. The difference that his story made for me is a young rookie starting out in this line of work, because I still carry that with me today. I've been in this job for 18 years. That with me today. I've been in this job for 18 years. I've seen a lot of things, I've done a lot of things and I still carry that lesson with me today Because of what Jared Reston went through. It changed how I do my job and changed my perspective on life. Yeah, that was an important one for me.
Speaker 1:So for nothing else, as much as I hope that this particular story helped others and really demonstrated what resiliency is, especially in that particular incident, as much as I hope for all that this podcast was for me, this podcast was not just for me, but for those who are still going through or doing something similar. For those who are still going through or doing something similar, this podcast was to say thank you to Jared for being willing to share his story with so many so long ago. I can't say that I wouldn't have learned that or developed the idea of a warrior spirit or anything like that had it not been for his story, but I can say with 100% certainty that because of Jared's story I did so, for nothing else, jared, thank you. Thank you for sharing your story, thank you for the job that you did, thank you for what you still do for people. Now it's the resiliency that you had that day that's changed so many people's lives for the better. So, yeah, anyway, guys, that's about all I got. I hope that this episode has resonated with some of you. I hope that this episode has inspired some of you. I really hope, above anything else, that it's maybe given some of you a little bit of courage to come forward and want to tell your story, to reach out and have the opportunity to get your story out there.
Speaker 1:This particular story was about an incident that occurred in a law enforcement officer's life, but that's not the only place that these things occur officer's life, but that's not the only place that these things occur. Resiliency isn't just for law enforcement, public safety, military Resiliency is within everyone. Resiliency, resilience itself is with you always, and it's the level of resilience you have in your life that is going to dictate how you handle the curveballs and the blows that life deals out. And my goal here is to help everyone that I can develop those, develop theirs and become a stronger person. So, guys, I'm going to say it again. I'm going to say it again If you've got a story, if you've got a situation in your life that was tough that you had to dig deep on.
Speaker 1:That required you to dig deeper in your soul than you ever had to before to get out and to make something out of a bad situation or whatever it may have been and it doesn't have to be life-threatening Anything that impacted you to that level.
Speaker 1:Reach out to me, hit me up. You can hit me on any of my social links. You can hit me at breach at breachyourmindcom. Send me your story. I want to hear it, and if getting online and doing a video interview or doing a recorded audio interview is not for you, that's fine. We'll correspond through email until we get your story exactly how you want it told, and then I will come on and I will tell your story, because as hard as it is for me to sit here with this microphone in front of me, these cameras in front of me, and tell this and talk front of me, these cameras in front of me, and tell this and talk, if it means giving you a chance to help somebody, if it's a chance for me to help somebody, then that's what I'm going to do. So hit me up guys, let's get your story out there and let's get you the opportunity to help somebody else. So until next time, I appreciate you. Thank you for stopping by. Be safe, we'll catch you on the next one. Bye, guys.
