The gunshot echoed for what seemed like minutes. I expected to be dead by the time my ears returned to normal. I instinctively searched my head and then my body for a hole, but I found nothing.

I looked up as Detective Tolliver fell to his knees. His gun lay several feet away on the floor. He didn’t seem to be bleeding, but he was out cold.

As he lay on the ground, I tore open the buttons of his shirt to reveal a navy blue bullet proof vest underneath. After a few moments he screamed like a bab...