[narrator] In North Carolina,
a call for a home burglary quickly escalates.
[officer] I could see a male dressed in all-dark clothing
with a pregnant woman as a hostage.
And he was holding a firearm to the back of her head.
-[dog barking] -[officer yelling]
We can't let him escape, and we can't let him take her.
[officer on the radio]
[narrator] In Ohio, a pursuit through the suburban streets
endangers officers.
[gunshot]
[officer 2] The thoughts that were going through my mind at that point,
my wife, my kids, my grandkids.
[narrator] In California, a teenage girl confronts a lone officer.
[officer speaking]
[officer talking on radio]
[officer 3] We're not trained in knife combat,
so that's why I drew my gun
and I started walking away.
[officer 3 speaking]
[police radio chatter]
[officers yelling]
[narrator] In North Carolina,
Mecklenburg County is home to the city of Charlotte.
[radio operator speaking]
[man speaking]
[radio operator speaking]
[man speaking]
[siren wailing]
[Luke] I arrived
and Officer Koukopoulos came up fairly soon after me.
And I approached the front door,
and, uh, a man with a gun came out
and, uh, he had a mask on.
So I got on the radio and called for backup.
[siren wailing]
[James] With my partner, Joseph Bauer,
we were riding as a two-man unit that night
when we heard the call come out for a home invasion.
[siren wailing]
[Joseph] All that we had to go off of,
is that there's a man, potentially armed, and that's it.
We don't know if he lives there.
We don't know who's inside the house.
Is it a vacant house that no one's lived in for years?
[James] Our body cameras are activated Bluetooth by our lights and sirens,
so they turned on when we turned our lights on.
We pulled up as a third and fourth responding officers on scene.
[officer yelling]
[Joseph] We started seeing flashlights behind a house.
We knew, okay, that's where the officers are.
[officer 1 yelling]
[officer 2 responding]
[both officers yelling]
[dog barking]
We want all entry points and exit points covered.
[dog barking]
[officer speaking]
[Joseph] I get eyes on the front door and the front windows.
[dog barking]
I take cover behind a large tree...
[officer speaking]
...and it's on an angle,
so I'm not directly in front of the front door,
which is ideal tactically.
You don't want to stand in front of the front door
in case he starts shooting through the door.
[dog barking]
We want the suspect to know,
you're surrounded. Come out. Let's end this peacefully.
[officers yelling]
[officer] This is covered.
[James] From my position in the rear, I could see the back door,
and I could see a back room window with a light on.
There's just a million different scenarios
that are running through my head.
My biggest concern, he just starts opening fire at us
or any other people inside the house.
[footsteps]
[James] At that point, I was hoping he would come out
with his hands up, with no firearm.
And we'd go in and clear the house,
and everyone would be all right.
There's definitely a lot of adrenalin.
[dog barking]
[woman screaming]
[suspect shouting]
[Joseph] To hear the wailing of a woman,
"Help me. Help me..."
-[dog barking] -[suspect shouting]
And I could also hear
the suspect tell us to get back.
[dog barking]
[suspect shouting]
[woman speaking]
[officers yelling]
[suspect shouting]
[officers yelling]
[Joseph] I could see a male dressed in all-dark clothing
with a pregnant woman as a hostage.
And he had the victim in, like, a headlock.
And he was holding a firearm to the back of her head.
I raised my firearm.
I am thinking in my head,
I need to shoot.
This is a deadly threat.
It's getting out of control,
and I can't allow this situation to spiral any further.
And I have my finger now on the trigger.
If I shoot, and let's say I hit the suspect in the shoulder,
well, there's a thing called sympathetic reflex.
If I hit him in the shoulder, he's gonna wince in pain and pull the trigger.
That's a problem.
If I shoot and miss
he's gonna most likely start shooting back.
Or obviously, worst-case scenario, I shoot and hit her.
It's a moving target.
It's a one-handed shot,
because I have a flashlight in one hand.
There was doubt in my head.
I took my finger off the trigger,
because I wasn't gonna take the shot at that moment.
[officers yelling]
[dog barking]
I'm constantly trying to relocate
to gain a tactical advantage.
[officers yelling]
I was still in the backyard.
[James] I can see officers moving in the front yard,
so I figured if something happened...
[officers yelling]
I see the suspect holding a firearm to a woman's head.
[officers yelling]
I'm thinking, if we have body armor,
and we have firearms, she doesn't.
[dog barking]
[officer yelling]
[dog barking]
We can't let him escape, and we can't let him take her.
[bleep]
[officer yelling]
[Joseph] He continued to progress
into the backyard of the neighboring property.
He never stopped.
[suspect screaming]
[bleep]
[officers yelling]
I remember trying to work my way around the house,
and then that's when I was face-to-face with the suspect.
And I immediately retreated back to get cover.
And I thought if he's gonna take a shot,
he's gonna take it right now at me.
This was the worst-case scenario.
[bleep]
It's unfolding right in front of me.
I didn't feel comfortable at taking that shot.
He never stood still,
and he can't put her at any more risk than she already is.
We all started fanning out
so we weren't behind each other stacked up.
I could see the neighboring property.
The backyard was woods.
It would look like a heavily wooded area.
[officer yelling]
[dog barking]
[James] My big concern was he was gonna
take her into the woods, and then begin firing at us
from the wood line.
[Joseph] When is it okay to take a shot?
I need to make sure
that there's no innocent victims around.
That includes my fellow officers.
[officer yelling]
[woman speaking]
I have a pregnant woman pleading for help,
being taken against her will.
[gunshots]
[dog barking]
[officer] Do not do it!
[gunshots]
[James] There's a larger log,
a tree had fallen in the backyard.
He essentially tries to step over back of it,
and it creates a gap between him and the victim
for the first time.
[gunshots]
-[woman screams] -[officer] I gotcha.
I remember screaming,
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"
It's the only thing I could get out of my mouth.
And what I was trying to just convey to the victim
was I wanted her to roll out of the way,
or just try to hit the ground.
I then decided to fire,
and it was as if the suspect, uh, just dropped over the log
and I could not see anyone.
[suspect shouts]
[officer speaking]
[Joseph speaking]
When I say, "I got the 94, I got the 94 right by my right foot,"
that's me saying I got the gun.
And that's when we start to make this change on scene.
[James speaking]
[James] He had been shot at least four, five times.
Whatever just happened, happened.
He's not someone that's posing a threat to anyone.
He is just someone that needs help.
That's the way you have to look at it.
[officer speaking]
[narrator] The pregnant victim is unharmed.
Jonathan Ottrey is charged
with robbery with a dangerous weapon,
first-degree kidnapping,
possession of a firearm by a convicted felon,
and first-degree burglary.
He is found guilty on all counts,
and sentenced to a minimum 32 years in prison.
I wish in the beginning he just came out and surrendered
and we could have completed our investigation
without ever having to shoot our firearms at him.
Mecklenburg Police Department awarded me the Medal of Valor,
um, for the actions taken that night.
This actually was the last call for service I received.
I did make a decision prior to this for my family's sake,
to, um, step away from law enforcement.
Working third shift overnights takes a toll.
So I made the decision to devote my attention,
uh, to my family.
But I'll say this,
I've got a whole bunch of brothers in Charlotte.
[narrator] Just east of Dayton, Ohio,
is the suburban town of Riverside.
[David] It's a Sunday tradition
for my wife to make lunch for all my guys.
So she sends me to work
with this big two pots full of food.
After that's over I do the dishes,
when this call comes in.
[man speaking]
[woman speaking]
[David] We received a call about two people
pointing guns at each other
in the parking lot of 700 Spinning Road,
which is a Kroger's parking lot.
I responded to that direction.
People pointing guns at each other
are not a typical call that we receive,
especially on a Sunday afternoon.
Once I arrived on scene,
I was met in the parking lot by one of the callers
who said that one of the suspects, in a white car,
had driven across the street
to a drive-through called Yum Yum's.
And I could see the car going around
to the back of the building at that time.
[police radio chatter]
A body camera came on
when I pushed the button to begin recording.
I pulled up in front of the building
so he could not exit through the exit.
The suspect then put his vehicle in reverse.
I activated my lights.
I see he was coming back around the building.
[David speaking]
[siren wailing]
I have my lights and sirens on.
[car revving]
The suspect's traveling extremely fast already.
[siren wailing]
His recklessness to get away
is validating that he has something to hide,
or something he doesn't want us to discover.
[siren wailing]
[David speaking]
He finally makes another left into a dead end.
At this point, I'm thinking that this is where we're going to stop,
and he's gonna exit the vehicle and try to run.
[siren wailing]
[police radio chatter]
He drives through the person's yard
and back out onto the residential road.
[siren wailing]
[police radio chatter]
The smallest mistake on this road
you would not be able to recover due to the fact
that there's nowhere for you to go
once the mistake's been made.
[siren wailing]
[car beeping]
At that point, Officer Toscani joins up to me.
It's a feeling of relief to have some backup show up.
[sirens wailing]
[Nichola] Once I saw the suspect vehicle,
I still had my lights on. I stopped, I let it pass,
and I let Sergeant Crigler pass, so I could get behind him.
[siren wailing]
Sergeant Crigler can focus on driving
and staying with the suspect vehicle.
All they have to worry about is driving.
They don't have to worry about calling in
street signs out, any directions.
That's up to the second car.
[sirens wailing]
[David] I collided with the rear of his vehicle,
not on purpose, but just due to the fact that we were so close
and he's braking so hard.
[sirens wailing]
[gunshots]
[David speaking]
[gunshots]
[David] While the subject fires his weapon in my direction,
at that time, it did not seem real.
[sirens wailing]
He fires a few more shots.
[gunshot]
[David speaking]
[sirens wailing]
[gunshots]
[sirens wailing]
[Nichola] At that point...
...Officer Reardon's car appears like a UFO,
and it just falls in directly in line with us,
like perfect motion.
[radio chatter]
[officer on radio]
At this point, we don't know what he's willing to do.
If he's willing to go this far,
how much further is he willing to go?
[radio chatter]
[sirens wailing]
[gunshots]
[siren wailing]
[David] One round hit the front of the cruiser and bounced off.
The other round hit the driver-side headlight.
The other round came through the front windshield,
about 16 inches from my head.
[gunshots]
That round continued into the vehicle
and into the headliner.
The thoughts that were going through my mind at that point,
uh, were no longer about him.
Uh, they were about my family, and, you know...
...my wife, my kids, my grandkids, so...
[Nichola] I remember counting how many shots I heard.
Hopefully, he's gotta be running out of ammo soon.
But I knew at the same time
that if you don't follow your training,
you're not gonna go home at the end of the day to your family.
That was really one of the main things
I was thinking about was I don't want this
to be the last thing that happens to me,
or this is what, you know, my family remembers.
Officer Reardon's car was over to my right,
and he got out of his vehicle.
So I could see Officer Reardon firing shots.
I could see the rounds hit the back rear windshield
of the suspect's vehicle.
[David] After he's fired the shots into my vehicle,
he continues to flee towards downtown Dayton.
At that point, I made a decision to continue after him
due to the fact that I did not want to see anybody get hurt.
[engines revving]
Ahhh!
[officer on radio] Are you all right, buddy? Are you okay?
[sirens wailing]
[officer on radio]
We had a issue, what's called a 99,
which is officer needs assistance,
so it was a call for everybody
in Montgomery County, uh, to help.
I was just hoping that some more people would show up,
can block off more streets,
just to funnel him somewhere to where we could get him out of the vehicle.
[Sgt. Crigler on radio] I'm on 3rd Street.
[Sgt. Crigler narrating] This car itself is starting to lose pieces.
[Sgt. Crigler on radio] In pursuit.
[Sgt. Crigler narrating] Just because it cannot take the abuse he's giving it.
I have to be aware of anybody who is driving,
and we have to be very aware if there's any pedestrians out,
or are there any children out?
Anybody that could enter the roadway.
[Sgt. Crigler on radio] Smithville heading towards Third.
[police sirens ring]
[Sgt. Crigler on radio] To Downburg.
Black ops, where are we?
[Sgt. Crigler narrating] And I just felt like he was trying to lose us
in the residential areas,
so he could ditch his vehicle and take off running.
[Officer Toscani]
[Officer Toscani narrating] I was trying to figure out the best placement
for my car.
If he was gonna bail,
where would he most likely try to run to?
[Officer Toscani] Team unit crossing 5th on Delmar.
Final advances right in front.
[shot fired]
[Sgt. Crigler] I'd hear a final shot fired.
[officer on radio] Hold on.
[officer 1] He's getting ready to pin him, it looks like.
[bleep]
[officer 2]
Garwood, Fifth.
[officer 1]
[Sgt. Crigler] I strike the rear of his car,
sending him into a large field, into a tree line
on the left side of the road.
[police sirens whine]
[Sgt. Crigler]
[inaudible dispatch on radio]
[inaudible] Officer.
[Sgt. Crigler] Just stop.
[inaudible dispatch on radio]
[car alarm screeches]
[Sgt. Crigler] Getting the door.
I can see the suspect appear.
I believe he was hiding a weapon.
[officer 1] Hands now!
-[inaudible dispatch on radio] -[officer] Hands up now!
[Sgt. Crigler]
-[officer] Put your hands up! -[Sgt. Crigler]
[officer 1] Put your hands up!
[Sgt. Crigler]
[inaudible dispatch on radio]
[Sgt. Crigler] He's going up the other side.
He turned and ran back further into the wood line.
He's going up in the woods.
[inaudible dispatch on radio]
Going into the wooded area.
Riverside's full oft, check 'em.
[dispatch on radio]
Riverside's full, let 'em check 'em.
[Sgt. Crigler on radio] He's gone forward, turning hard.
[Sgt. Crigler grunts]
[dispatch on radio]
[officer 1] On foot.
[Sgt. Crigler] Now that we've entered the woods and he's out of my sight,
the unknown is a scary situation.
[an officer on radio]
Is he waiting for me to take a step so he can shoot me?
[officer on radio]
[inaudible dispatch on radio]
[Sgt. Crigler] I don't know what to think, I don't know what he's thinking.
Several officers from other agencies
were showing up on scene to assist.
I mean, there was blue lights everywhere.
There was officers everywhere.
Hey, we got it, we got anybody--
-[inaudible dispatch on radio] -No, not that I know of here.
[Officer Toscani]
[officer 3]
[Officer Toscani] I was angry, I was pissed.
He shot at us, he led us on this chase,
and I did not want him to be able to get away.
[officer 4]
[Officer Toscani]
He appears in the opening,
uh, of the wooded area that we are facing.
[officer 4]
[Officer Toscani]
[Officer Toscani and officer four]
[inaudible shouting]
[bleep]
-[Officer Toscani] -[officer 4] Hands up!
[Officer Toscani]
[officer 1] Hands up!
[officer 4] Hands up!
-[Officer Toscani] -[officer 4] Hands up!
[officer 4] [bleep]
-[officer 4] Hands up! -[Officer Toscani]
-[inaudible dispatch on radio] -[Officer Toscani] Is he gonna try to shoot us?
Is he trying to bait us to get closer to him
so he can shoot as many as he can?
Is he going to try to take off running
from us when we get close?
Ten different scenarios are going through my head at this time.
[officer 4] Hands up!
[inaudible shouting]
[Sgt. Crigler] You could hear all the officers screaming at him, screaming at him
to show them their hands, show their hands.
[an officer on radio]
-[gun shots] -[screaming]
[many people scream]
[Sgt. Crigler] We hear rounds fired.
[screaming]
[dispatch on radio] We're advising suspect has fired off. [inaudible]
[Officer Toscani]
The less lethal weapons, they look like regular shotguns,
but they shoot bean bags.
Once they contact the suspect,
they're basically to knock them down.
So that the officers can move in safely,
and take the suspect into custody.
-Don't move! -[Officer Toscani]
I wanted a pair of Riverside handcuffs on him.
I wanted us, you know, to take him into custody, nobody else.
He did not have a weapon on him.
Um, just the holster.
-Louis. -Yep, I got him, I got him.
[Officer Toscani]
[narrator] The driver is identified as Adam Cottrill.
[Sgt. Crigler] He was a convicted fella.
He was on probation.
Laying next to his vehicle,
are two handguns,
and laying in his vehicle, you can see bags
of meth and heroin.
[narrator] Police find $2,490.75 inside the vehicle.
Cottrill is convicted on three counts of assault with a deadly weapon,
and possession of fentanyl
He's sentenced to 15 years in prison.
[Sgt. Crigler] I was awarded the medal of valor,
for putting my life at risk
all to apprehend the suspect.
[Officer Toscani] I keep a St. Michael coin in my vest.
And when this happened, I went to the same spot
that I bought mine and I bought Crigler and Ron one,
so they could keep in their vests.
[Sgt. Crigler] I guess you could say it brought us closer together.
We know that through some very serious events
that we can all count on one another,
and that goes a long way.
[narrator] In the state of California,
50 miles northwest of Los Angeles,
lies the seaside city of Oxnard.
Timothy Roberts patrols the streets
for the Oxnard Police Department.
I've been with this police department for about, uh, seven years.
I think you've got to be able to be patient
with people, whatever they're dealing with.
You know, it may not seem like it's a big deal to you, but to them,
it may be the worst day of their life.
[narrator] Just after 6:00 a.m.,
a 911 call comes into Oxnard's emergency services.
[911 operator on phone]
[woman on phone]
[911 operator on phone]
[woman on phone]
[911 operator on phone]
[woman on phone]
[911 operator on phone]
[woman on phone]
[911 operator on phone]
[woman on phone]
So the drive was about three or four minutes from the station.
It wasn't an out of the ordinary call.
They'll say that someone's armed with a weapon,
and between the time that they call and the time that we get there,
they've gone somewhere else.
[Officer Roberts on radio] Police, I'm at the front of the building.
What I saw initially was this girl.
The first thought in my mind was
she was waiting for a school bus.
She didn't have any knives or any guns.
I was shocked that someone was brazen enough
to just walk up and show me that they
had a knife in their, in their waistband.
[suspect]
[Officer Roberts]
When she says, "What happens when I reach for it?"
The first thought in my mind was
to try and calm the situation down.
We're not trained in unarmed knife combat
as police officers.
I started walking away to create space between me and her.
[dispatch on radio] 480 right here on North Avenue [inaudible].
[Officer Roberts]
[suspect]
-[inaudible dispatch on radio] -[suspect]
[Officer Roberts] Oh, and she said, "Shoot me,"
that was not something people normally say.
I was thinking that
she was likely trying to put herself in harm's way intentionally.
It was kind of a textbook suicide by cop.
So I would be forced to shoot her.
-[Officer Roberts] -[suspect]
[Officer Roberts]
[Det. Boysan] As I'm responding,
I upgraded my response to lights and sirens
in order to get on scene quickly to assist Officer Roberts.
My responsibility as a backup officer
would be to attempt to deploy with some sort of less lethal option.
I immediately went to the rear
with the less lethal shotgun was being stored.
It's a regular shotgun cartridge
but inside of it there's a small mesh bag with heavy pellets.
It gives the impression that they've been shot with an actual gun.
[Officer Roberts] When Officer Boysan arrived on scene,
he goes to back of this car,
I don't want to back up farther and have him
being busy loading up that shotgun,
and have her in between us.
So she could either go stab him or, or assault him somehow.
If she starts running, then that's gonna be when I fire.
[Officer Roberts]
-[shots fired] -[suspect] Ow!
[Officer Roberts] Drop it.
-[shots fired] -[suspect] Ow!
I can't believe I just had to do that.
[inaudible dispatch on radio]
I've never fired my weapon
outside of training at the range.
I just fired until I saw her fall down.
[Det. Boysan] As I grabbed the first shell...
-[shots fired] -[Det. Boysan] ...I hear three gunshots go off.
and began to run around the front of my patrol unit.
I see a very young female on the ground.
[suspect heaving]
[Officer Roberts] The knife was on the ground next to her.
[suspect groans]
[Det. Boysan] So as soon as the threat ends,
our priority is the preservation of life.
[Officer Roberts]
[suspect]
-[Officer Roberts] -[suspect]
[suspect grunts]
[Det. Boysan]
I just grabbed the first thing I could find out of his med bag,
and it was a big gauze pouch.
I found the first thing that was bleeding
and just tried to stop the bleeding right there.
-[Det. Boysan] -[suspect groans]
[suspect]
-[Det. Boysan] -[suspect groans]
[Office Roberts] I was surprised when she said, "I'm sorry."
Thought it was a weird thing to be saying.
Especially in that situation.
And I could tell she was in a lot of pain at that point.
[suspect groans]
I felt, I felt bad for her.
[Det. Boysan]
[Officer Roberts]
[suspect groans]
[Det. Boysan]
[suspect]
-[Det. Boysan] -[Officer Roberts] Not today, not today.
[suspect]
[Det. Boysan] She said, "Don't, don't save me."
This clearly was someone who was suffering
uh, from some serious mental health problems.
[narrator] Sgt. Ricky Marquez has arrived on the scene.
Got three, on the floor. [inaudible] One right here on the thigh.
-[Sgt. Marquez] -[Officer Roberts] Got one in the upper left chest.
[Sgt. Marquez]
This one's not...
At that point, I moved over to her right leg,
I took out a torniquet,
and I put it on high up on her right thigh
a few inches about the bullet wound,
um, to stop or at least control any bleeding
that was coming from the wound.
[suspect]
-[Sgt. Marquez] -[suspect]
If someone's bleeding out, they've only got moments to live.
[suspect groans]
[ambulance siren rings]
[Sgt. Boysan]
[inaudible conversation]
Just right here, in the covered wound.
[Officer Roberts] After I was relieved, I stood up,
uh, I noticed that I was really light-headed.
I don't know if it was from the adrenaline
or just forgetting to breath while I was down there
trying to help her.
I kind of processed the thought of having fired.
I remember thinking
I really do not want to have to shoot this young girl.
I don't want to shoot her.
Uh, that was the last thing I wanted to do that day.
With Officer Roberts, at that point, I wanted to remove him
from the immediate area.
I brought him back to my patrol car.
-[Sgt. Marquez] -[Officer Roberts]
[Sgt. Marquez] There's an investigation that's going to be ensuing.
It's better for Officer Roberts to not to speak
to anyone about what's going on.
[Det. Boysan] What I thought about her survival chances
were not terribly optimistic.
She'd been shot in her chest,
in her abdomen and in her upper thigh,
and all three of those
are potentially life-threatening injuries.
[Officer Roberts] So the last thing I knew before I went home
was that she was still alive,
but she was in critical condition.
[narrator] EMS rushes the suspect to the hospital.
Her life hangs by a thread.
My name is Maria and I am the suspect in this case.
[Officer Roberts]
-[shots fired] -[Maria screams]
[Maria] As those bullets like went through my body
I felt them.
I felt the heat, I felt like I got hit with like a hammer.
[dispatch on radio]
[Maria] My chest was burning, I felt everything.
To this day, it still blows me away [chuckles]
that I survived three gunshot wounds.
When it comes to my mental health issues,
I've suffered with these problems
since I was around nine years old.
When it comes to suicidality and suicidal actions,
I started struggling with that when I was 14 years old.
In the past, I did have three unsuccessful suicide attempts.
When it comes to the term "suicide by cop,"
so I thought about it the week before
'cause I was just thinking, oh, like, "What makes police shoot people?
Like what?"
And, of course, you know, people with knives,
people with guns, you know, people presenting a danger
to a law enforcement officer.
[911 operator on phone]
[woman on phone]
[911 operator]
[woman]
The dispatcher answered and I gave a description of myself
as this concerned citizen, kind of character.
And I told them, "You know, there's this young woman
outside with a knife."
So they can come as fast as they could and I get this over with.
[inaudible radio chatter]
[Officer Roberts]
[Maria] So I pulled it out.
I was just hoping he would shoot me
by just me walking towards him.
[Officer Roberts]
[Maria] I've never seen a gun before in my life before that moment.
It was a shock.
But then that also reassured me in my mind, like,
"I'm getting what I want."
I just to keep it going.
[Officer Roberts]
[Maria] No.
But then he kept backing up.
And then that was the moment where I was just thinking,
"I'm going to have to run towards him,
so he can really do something."
-[shots fired] -[Maria screams]
[narrator] Maria is charged
with resisting a police officer,
and using a deadly weapon on a police officer.
She is sentenced to probation,
and ordered to attend a mental health treatment program.
Officer Roberts is cleared of anything wrongdoing.
After five months of mental health treatment,
Maria has a probation hearing.
[Officer Roberts] So I went to her last probation hearing,
along with my chief of police.
She had, uh, written an apology letter
to me for what had happened that day.
I think the biggest impact the letter had on me
was that...
she was a person who had...
made a mistake that day.
We all recommended that she be released from probation.
[Maria] I hurt this person, I made him fear for his life,
you know, that's not right.
I was happy to prove to him that some people could change.
No matter how crazy the circumstances.
Officer Roberts and I have kept contact ever since.
So it's nice to have someone to talk to about it,
and process it through the lens of someone else.
[Officer Roberts] Our relationship has benefited me
by just really allowing me to see what people
who are struggling with mental health go through.
[Maria] When it comes to how I am now, I am really driven towards life.
I have goals, I have ambitions for the next 10 years.
I see myself proving to society at large
that even people like me can improve
and thrive,
with just a little care and compassion.
[Officer Roberts] Oh, she's gonna be great
with whatever she decides to do.
She's smart, and definitely hardworking,
and very determined.