Uniontown Sgt. David White was released from the Summa Akron City Hospital on Monday after being shot four times while responding to a domestic call on July 9.
The 59-year-old thanked the police department, people of the community and businesses who helped him and his family through monetary donations and emotional support.
Sgt. White said the first thing he wants to do when he gets home is to pet his dog.
When he arrived at the hospital, he came as the highest level of activation. He went directly to the operating room within minutes, according to his doctor.
Sgt. White was alert after the shooting and up until the moment doctors brought him into the operating room. He said his police training helped him remain as calm as possible.
"If you're conscious try to continue doing your job and don't think about your injuries. Keep your breathing down and control it so you can control your own bleeding," Sgt. White said.
Dr. Joshua Nash said his recovery will be focused on strength, mostly externally with regaining muscle.
"Mostly what his recovery will be is building up strength and working with nutrition to get him optimized," said Dr. Nash. "He's made a lot of recovery already in terms of the healing that needs to be done internally and now it's the external muscles and getting back into life and feeling good, moving every day."
Sgt. White has a long road to recovery before returning back to work but his doctor said he expects him to make a full recovery.
"I haven't thought about getting back to work. My doctors said I'm probably eight months to a year away from that. I have a lot of therapy that I have to go through... There are a lot more immediate things that I have thought about aside from going to work," Sgt. White said.
Sgt. White was surrounded by the Uniontown police force and family and friends who were there to see him released from the hospital.
He described the feeling as "overwhelming, trying to fight back the tears and the emotions. It's very very overwhelming."
