UTAH COUNTY -- Utah County Greg Sherwood was shot the same day Sgt. Cory Wride was killed. Sherwood survived and Monday his wife talked to reporters for the first time, describing the shooting that nearly took her husband’s life.
Newly released pictures show Deputy Greg Sherwood in good spirits with family in a rehab facility at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. At times he's up and walking around.
"He's an amazing man,” said Gina Sherwood. “He's the funniest person I've met in my life. He jokes around and laughs."
Deputy Sherwood is now in fair condition and expected to return home in 10 days.
The deputy took a bullet to the head Jan. 30.
"He said he remembers glass breaking and then feeling like he had been hit in the head with a sledgehammer and he said he couldn't see anything," Gina Sherwood said.
The gunfire came from a truck. Jose Angel Garcia-Juaregui, 27, and a 17-year old girl were in the vehicle. Police say both were connected to the shooting death of Sgt. Cory Wride during a traffic stop in Eagle Mountain, although Utah County still aren’t confirming what role the teenager played.
"He (Greg) knew that Cory was in trouble and he went to places that nobody else thought to go," Gina Sherwood said.
Deputy Sherwood was on the hunt for the suspects and spotted the truck in Santaquin when he was shot. After undergoing surgery, “the first thing he said was 'I wish I could have shot the coward myself,’ ” his wife added.
Gina Sherwood supports Sgt. Wride's family in their effort to get bullet-proof glass for police cruisers.
"If he had had that protective windshield and if Cory had that, he'd still be here with us and Greg would be patrolling with the dog (canine)," Gina Sherwood said.
"We hope it's very likely that kind of protection can be added to our patrol vehicles,” added Sgt. Spencer Cannon with the Utah County Sheriff's Office “…and we have a hard time saying there's a cost too expensive to protect them."
Gina Sherwood believes that cost is worth it after her husband was severely wounded and a fellow deputy paid the ultimate price.
"I actually went to Cory's gravesite and I was able to lay flowers there and I stand there and think, yeah I could have been burying my husband right now," she said.
