David Hare grew up in a family of heroes. Veterans from World War II, and Vietnam, to generations of police officers, including uncles who were on duty during the 1966 riots make up his roots.
"I avoided being a police officer with a passion," Hare said he wanted to go another direction, studying film and the arts.
In 2001, he and his wife at the time decided to sell everything they had and move to Los Angeles to start the artists' dream.
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"We packed up our car, loaded it up with all the stuff, moved all the way across, my ex-wife and I, moved all the way across the country to start our lives as artists and they ran the planes into the side of the building that day," Hare said alluding to Sept. 11. They spent the day in Los Angeles and decided to move back to be closer to family.
"I signed up within that week to be a police officer," Hare said.
Fast forward to Jan. 31, 2007, Hare was on duty, out at a restaurant with his partner, "at 8:30 I was eating breakfast, 9 o'clock I was shot in the chest during a car stop and by 2 o'clock I was released from shock trauma from my injuries and stuff like that," Hare said.
It was a stop that went wrong, with two suspects in a stolen car and carrying a gun. The suspects took off, Hare and his partner pursued. The suspects ran their car into four other cars at the intersection of North and Gay Streets and that's when Hare went to restrain the suspect. During the process he was shot by another officer.
"Gun goes off, I get hit, roll across the hood of the car and I'm out," Hare said when he came to, he sucked in a breath of air, "I was still on the ground, it was only a few seconds, all of the sudden it was oh god, I gotta get up, I gotta..."
The bullet was stopped by Hare's jacket but he says it could've killed him, "had I been shot up a notch, it would have stopped my heart from blunt force trauma. Had I got shot down a notch it would have shattered my ribs and who knows what other damage it would've done, it hit absolutely perfectly."
Hare said the officers immediately came to his aid and everything worked perfectly to get him help. After he was released from the hospital, he told his boss he was going to get a beer.
"My chest was all patched up, I'm kinda like waddling in and they're like hey man how was your day? I'm like oh, it was good, I got shot," Hare said.
"Pretty incredulous, I was like oh my gosh! What happened? Do you need a beer," Food and Beverage Manager at Max's Taphouse, Robert Simko, said.
Sinko said Hare was a regular and over the years the two became close friends. Hare took three months to recover and went back out on the force.
As the anniversary of that day came closer, Hare felt he needed to do something to celebrate, "Initially, we started off with a joke that we should have an anniversary Dave didn't get dead day."
Hare and a few friends came up with the idea to create a fundraiser for the police community.
"I would like to give all of the other officers that experience of that they are appreciated and they are cared for and stuff like that without having to go through the trauma of getting shot, especially these days," Hare said.
The fundraisers have been a huge hit, held the last Thursday of January each year at Max's. The causes have changed over the years, and this year the money will go to the Police Unity Tour. The event is a bike ride to Washington D.C. where the money goes to fallen officers' families.
"They get to see police officers as people and not as the badge, and they get to mingle with them and talk to them, maybe share stories," Simko said about the fundraiser.
The event is Thursday night at Max's Taphouse at 737 S Broadway, from 5-10 p.m.
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