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Superman's Got Nothing On Him

Officer Tim Jones and A Life After A Near-Death

By Herman WilkinsPublished 3 years ago 10 min read
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Officer Tim Jones in his rookie photo with the Pqrk Forest, Illinois Police Department. July 2015- Chicago Tribune; Handouty 2015 -2015

I’m not supposed to talk about this. Privacy is important to my family. Always has been. But I am certain nobody reads anything anyway and the act of writing is not so heavily scrutinized that anyone would ever stumble over a story of my own personal hero. I am biased and partial. I am family. Though, if my sister reads this, my kinship might be rescinded. This is the story of my baby. Well... my nephew in truth. In life, my hero.

The family of Chief William Jones and then U-Indy Hound, Detective Tim Jones - with mom, Mrs. Chief Jones, and little sister, Tiffy. (Photo: H. Wilkins III - 2013)

Whether it’s a pretty yarn, because it is also a true story, is a notion best left to those who don’t believe in miracles. Don’t worry, I don’t believe in miracles either. I believe in empirical truths and the value of the scientific method. And while many believe that truth is subjective, subject to the beholder thereof, I know that interpretation is subjective, but the search for and recognition of truth, is not a matter for conjecture.

But here is the story of my hero, told not by circumstance, but by the spirit, entrepreneurial and socially-driven, that drives him today, against all odds.

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On March 19th 2016, I received a call from my sister at eight in the morning, in California, and ten in the morning in Chicago. It was Saturday and I was in the midst of travel already from an unforeseen circumstance regarding a family member. My big sister said there had been an accident. More to the point she continued, rather stoically in retrospect, there had been a shooting. It was a call for which I had steeled myself years prior when she announced that she was in love with and marrying a police officer from Chicago's south side. Only it wasn't my brother in law, a twenty year veteran and then chief of police of a predominately black Chicago suburb. He was and is their only son.

Officer Timothy Jones of the Park Forest, Illinois Police Department, my baby nephew, had been shot, three times at close range. My nephew, Officer Jones, is himself the son of the Chief of Police of another Chicago-area police department, was twenty-five years old and had only been on the police force for eight months. He was following in his father's footsteps and his mother's teaching that public and community service was the most noble endeavor one could pursue if one recognized the blessings and privilege that one's own life offered and afforded.

Like his father, Officer Jones had committed to a life of public service, and hoped to become the face of black policing in the United States at a time where minority officers were sorely needed in light of Black Lives Matter protest and continuing seeming disregard for marginalized communities. In addition to his work with the police department, before he had a badge, he volunteered with special needs programs and afterschool sports in marginalized communities. His family insisted on this and his community on Chicago's southern suburban border demanded it.

Chief William Jones having his new badge pinned by his proud wife. (Image- Park Forest Police Department / Facebook)

Officer Jones has been blessed in life. He does have a pretty face, coupled with an easy smile he gets from his Mama, who got it from hers. It’s coincidental that his dad has the same smile, but on someone of his stature has less swagger than magnanimity, but again I am partial. Officer Jones, Tim to family and friends alike, Bam Bam to his Mom, was big man on campus at Tinley Park Highschool just outside of Chicago, star on the football team and subsequently homecoming King. With friends from childhood who also became police officers because of Chief Jones example to them.

By 2019, he’d graduated from University of Indianapolis, where he’d pursued a passion for division-level football that continued from high school glory days. Though, by Senior year, Tim Jones already had made up his mind, if the NFL hadn’t come calling, unlikely at 5’11 190lbs, he’d follow in his father’s footsteps in military or law enforcement.

Two years after a BA and a College Championship ring, Tim Jones joined the police academy. Eight months later, he graduated and began a regular beat, while planning on moving in to his first apartment less than three miles from where he grew up, less than two miles from his erstwhile high school, less than five miles from the department in Chicago’s southern suburbs, called Park Forest.

On Saturday morning, March 19th, just before he was to leave his shift, he answered a call for a friend who needed to leave early because he had a baby on the way. Ever the man to step up for friend or family, Tim said, "Go home. I got this." On that Saturday Morning, Tim Jones was, for a friend and a stranger, one call away.

********************

The prognosis in the first days after the shooting, in the neck, face and head, did not look good. Every single doctor at Christ Advocate hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, prepared the family for what they thought was inevitable.

Christ Advocate Hospital

They didn’t think that Officer Jones would ever come out of the coma he was in, they said he would be lucky and miraculous if he survived the week. The nurses at the hospital gave reassurances that anything was possible, but some of their faces belied their hopeful words. Nurse Marianne gave us all a reason to believe as she dressed wounds and took temperatures. Other Nurses and Orderlies and Preachers and Weatherman and Cafeteria Workers and Alderman and Strangers told us to pray. We had. Every morning, noon, and night since we’d awakened on Saturday, March 19th, in this surreality that was our new life. While everyone from everywhere condoled our family for our future loss, apparently God had a different plan for the 25 year old rookie, legacy cop, who’d discharged his weapon for the first time in an active confrontation that saw two black men, one officer and one derelict, felled by circumstance, predilection and all-American gun laws.

After a series of surgeries, strokes, and spasticity, Officer Jones did open his eyes. The doctors themselves call it a miracle that he survived. The miracle would grow in the coming months with the realization that his memory, with exception of the actual shooting, was completely intact, even as his skull was not yet.

In reality, the hard-fought battle had only just begun when he opened his eyes and with the realization that he was still there, mind intact, though body wounded. With brain injuries, specifically a bullet through the brain, it is impossible to tell what functions of the body will be affected. In this regard, Officer Jones was no different than any other person. After the initial rescue and triage that kept him alive and coming out of the coma, doctors were able to assess the actual affects on his entire person. Everything the young and virile officer had known and possibly taken for granted had to be relearned. Basics human functions such as swallowing, had to be retaught. Speech and movement were all affected and would have to be retaught. There was no time frame. The staff at UIC Hospital and then MarianJoy Hospital had the unenviable task of teaching a person who had been in peak physical condition to adjust to life without full mobility.

Rookie Officer Tim Jones, two months on the force. (Image: Park Forest Police Department)

While there was no paralysis, itself a miracle, moving arms, hands, legs, and feet on command, have to be relearned. The family was told it could be thirty minutes from the present or thirty years. With brain injuries there is always an unknown.

Marianjoy Hospital in Wheaton, Illinois, where Officer Jones and family lived for a year rehabilitating and adjusting. (Photo MarianJoy)

No one can prepare someone to undergo such a course change in life. Many, the family was told, become depressed, bitter, and angry. It is a testament to the outpouring of support by not only police departments across the US but also from the local, Illinois communities that Officer Jones never once was in need, emotionally, medically or financially. The fundraisers by friends, family from surrounding communities and law enforcement from Paris to Pretoria reached out to his family.

Three years after the shooting, Officer Tim Jones has not slowed his long and difficult road to recovery. Everyday there are squats, stretches, speech therapy and a litany of other exercises aimed at training his body to, literally and figuratively, get back on his feet. While his body is still in recovery mode, his mind has returned to its old self, including his commitment to public service. The sense of service and community, his watchwords before the ill-fated morning, have again become a focus in his life. Officer Jones is not content to make his life and recovery all about himself. In fact, Officer Jones 2.0, if you will, has committed himself to redefining what his professional life now is.

Five years and one week before the day, now Detective, Tim Jones is a different man in many ways. But in one way he is the person he was raised to be and thus has always been. Now it shows even more given his experience to date. He knows that he wants to work, but he also knows that he wants to be a contributing member of his community in the greater Chicago area. The fundraising done for him, he needs to pay forward as a testament to the fact that he is still breathing, living and surviving. He says, "Now I'm a businessman. Now, I have to get down to business." But, being an entrepreneur is challenging even in the best of times. With limited mobility, it is even more so. Officer Jones has decided that not only money-making endeavors would be his focus, but also creative endeavors especially with regards to the black community. In between therapies and a regimented schedule for his own personal rehabilitation, Officer Jones now watches the stock markets and looks to inspire new business ventures for the local community. To get his feet wet in business development, Officer Jones reached out to his college best friend and fellow athlete to come up with a business that would follow his passion for athletics and sports.

What started as a personal training at a well-known chain of gyms became Quest Fitness in the suburbs just north of Chicago in Lake Forest, Illinois. Marq'uone Edmonds is now a poster child for black business success and acumen in so many ways.

Another entrepreneurial interest that became a reality for Officer Jones is Jones and Jones Realty, something Officer Jones and his father, the former-Chief Jones, had thought about as they discussed both their futures after the accidents. It is a real estate company that invest in marginalized and minority communities that has witnessed the degradation of a community in decline. Started while the family was still adjusting to the new circumstances post gun violence, the business became a lifeline for essential, medical personnel during the days of Corona Virus lockdown.

Real heroes don't need a cape especially in underserved communities. (Photo: Park Forest Police Departments)

Supporting local Creative Artists has become one of Officer Jones passion. Whether buying paintings or prints or ordering digital recreations, Officer Tim Jones has seen the effects that patronage can have on artists in continuing to produce work. With this in mind, he has formed J:IV- Productions. The production and development company is Officer Jones next venture scheduled for a 2021 launch. In this endeavor he is partnering with a black owned production entities to create two series pilots, a documentary and a full length feature planned for the next two years. The productions will primarily focus on black creatives, black production teams and black interests.

Many persons, after such a harrowing close call at deaths door, would be content with only getting their lives back, but for Officer Tim Jones, his efforts in business and community are an example of what entrepreneurship can and should be. Benefitting communities that are marginalized are now his focus.

At MarianJoy where his father, Chief Jones, rededicated efforts to public service.

Recently, the phrase "Not all heroes wear capes," has been bandied about quite a lot in these times of uncertainty, but it is true whether or not one believes in comic books, fairy tales or superheroes. No badge or title is needed for service. As a very modern, black princess of the United Kingdom and her ginger-haired, war-veteran husband have recently declared as an empirical truth, “Service is Universal.” A now-veteran police officer and detective, felled in the line of duty, is proving these words true.

Thank you, Detective Jones, you are my hero.

healing
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About the Creator

Herman Wilkins

It all starts with a good story, who's telling it, how, when and why, then all that's left is what it takes to get it heard. Any way you hear a story, in print, Blender or 65mm, it starts with words. Any writing you keep reading is art.

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