GOLD COAST BULLETIN

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

GARY Hamrey would rather not have had this conversation. Then again, he would rather not have been shot in the face in the first place.

“I’m not too media savvy but ... I realise we’re in a high-profile job,” the Gold Coast dog squad boss told the Bulletin less than nine weeks after being shot at point-blank range while tracking two men suspected of an armed robbery at the Arundel Tavern.

“To see that people are appreciative of what I did gets you a little bit (emotionally). The public have been really wonderful and very sincere. I think we, as police, underestimate from time to time how much support we have from the public.”

Sergeant Hamrey suffered extensive facial injuries in the early hours of Friday, September 27, when a bullet, believed to be fired from a .22 rifle, blasted through his left cheek and out past his ear at the back of the neck.

Remarkably, the 50-year-old has minimal physical scarring but he is first to admit there are emotional wounds that cannot be seen.

Having returned to “suitable duties” three days a week, the father of three adult sons, including a fellow

officer, hoped to be back on the road with his beloved dogs by the end of 2013. Before then, however, he granted an extensive insight into the moment he was shot, the toll his injuries continued to take and how it felt to survive when the likes of colleague Damian Leeding did not.

“It was that instantaneous realisation I had been shot. Your mind goes into overdrive,” he said.

“Time slows down, I can assure you of that. My life didn’t flash before my eyes.”