Deputy overcoming shooter’s bullet

On a perfect summer Saturday afternoon, Deputy Donald Bourg would normally be enjoying a long ride on one of his two motorcycles – a Suzuki Boulevard or the Honda RC51.

Instead, on this day, he sits fatigued on his couch under a Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office blanket as he watches a forensics show on television.

When a simulation shows the angle a bullet traveled to kill a murder victim, Bourg was moved to make a comparison.

“That’s almost the same way I got shot,” said the six-year deputy. “A little lower near the tailbone,” he continued referring to his wound.

Bourg, 36, was shot three times just before midnight on July 28 while responding to a suspicious persons complaint at the Montegut Post Office.

He was stuck once in the left leg, lower back and left shoulder. The wounds punctured his lung, broke a rib and paralyzed his right leg.

Bourg is the first Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s deputy to be hit in the line of duty in 20 years.

The man accused of shooting Bourg, Adrian Broussard, has been charged with attempted first-degree murder.

Last Thursday, Judge Timothy Ellender denied Broussard’s request for a reduction of his $2 million bond. Broussard is scheduled for arraignment on Sept 17.

It is one of a few small victories Bourg has achieved since the night he nearly died.

The bullet to the back nicked his tailbone, spinal column and a nerve that knocked out the feeling from his back to his right leg.

Bourg had to learn to walk again. While he no longer has to use a cane or walker, he still can’t put his full weight on the leg.

“In the beginning, I was told I’d never walk again. Just me walking again has proven some (doctors) wrong,” he explained. “It’s still numb. It feels like my leg went to sleep and I’m waiting for it wake up, but it never does.”

“You got one leg that knows what it’s doing and the other aint got a clue,” he added. “You feel like a baby trying to figure out how to do everything again.”

Bourg said the realization that he could be shot one day was always in his mind, but he credits his critical incident training for saving his life.

“In that kind of incident, you fight through it as long as you can until help arrives,” he noted. “That’s what probably saved my ass that night. We train for the worse and expect the best. That happened to be that night.”

By the time Bourg was transported to Terrebonne General Medical Center, his wife of three-and-a-half years, Mary, was already there.

He estimated that he was only in surgery about an hour, but it was the worse pain he ever experienced.

“My lieutenant was holding me down on (the left) side and I don’t know who was holding me down on the other side, but with no anesthesia, they lance you, cut you open and put these tubes in you while you’re still awake,” he recalled. “I felt like a human pin cushion.”

Doctors told Bourg how lucky he was to be alive, but did not go into details, he said. He learned through Mary and fellow deputies how close he came to dying.

“The bullet that hit under my shoulder entered my chest and missed my heart by less than an inch and missed major arties by less than an inch,” he said. “I guess they just wanted me to heal up and not worry about how close a call it was.”

That bullet fragment is still embedded below his right collarbone.

The first week after the shooting was the hardest period for Bourg. He had reoccurring dreams about the incident. He said he had to resolve it quickly before he was consumed by it.

“I needed to worry about healing and recovering instead of the incident,” Bourg said. “The constant. ‘What if I had done this? What if I had done that?’ I finally had to put it to rest.”

Bourg is in physical therapy twice a week, which will increase to three times when his lung heals. Doctors and therapists are unsure when or even if he will ever return to duty.

As much as that pains him, what he misses most is being able to kick a soccer ball with his seven-year old son Gavin.

“The weekend I got out of the hospital that’s what he wanted to do,” Bourg recalled. “He plays soccer and baseball, and it’s hard for him to grasp why I can’t do those things right now. He’s taking it pretty well. He hasn’t said too much or asked too many questions.”

Bourg, a 1993 South Terrebonne graduate, said he wanted to be in law enforcement since high school. However, he studied computer programming and mechanical engineering in college until he ran out of money.

Before joining the sheriff’s office in the Patrol Division, he worked offshore and bartended in local clubs.

What he likes best about being a deputy was helping out parish residents with everyday

“It’s always a good feeling when you solve a crime and you’re able to put a bad guy away, but just helping people in general is the best feeling,” he said. “In other jobs, it’s hard to know how you affect people. With this job, you know how you affect people whether it’s positive or negative depending on if they’re the good guy or the bad guy.”

Although he doesn’t have a timeframe, Bourg is confident he will return to the sheriff’s office soon, serving and protecting the public.

“Oh yeah. In some form or fashion, I’ll be back,” he proclaimed. “I hope I’m 100 percent by then, but I got to be realistic I guess.”

Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Donald Bourg had to learn how to walk again after one of the three gunshot wounds he suffered on July 28 paralyzed his right leg. Although he can stand, he still can’t put his full weight on that leg. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF