- A Leander man says he wanted to know what it felt like to be shot while wearing a bullet-resistant vest.
So he asked his best friend to shoot him. Another friend captured the entire incident with a cell phone camera.
The 25-year-old Benjamin Williams says it happened on a friend's ranch in Travis County in early March. Only wearing a bullet-resistant vest, Williams stands only a few feet away from his friend who is holding the 9mm.
His friend fires the gun and hits Williams.
A scream is heard on the video but it isn't Williams, it's the friend holding the camera phone.
Williams says he's always wanted to be in law enforcement and this was his way to experience it.
The 25-year-old says,"I wanted to know if I got shot in the chest with a bullet-proof vest on, hopefully with the trauma plate, that I can still pull out my pistol and still serve and protect."
Roger Wade with the Travis County Sheriff's Office says Williams made a bad call and that he shouldn't be in law enforcement because of that.
Wade says, "there's no such thing as a bullet proof vest."
"It's akin to being hit with a ballpeen hammer in the head without any protection. You have a small projectile hitting you hard several hundred feet per second and as close as he was, he could have caused a lot greater damage," Wade says.
Williams says he has gone through a police academy.
The Capital Area Council of Governments confirms Williams is a graduate of it's law enforcement academy. But he is not a commissioned peace officer.
Wade says he hopes others won't copy cat what Williams did.
Williams hopes not either.
He says, "I hope they don't because they may not be as lucky as I was."
But Williams says he doesn't regret the act.
"It gave me a new found respect for law enforcement for all the stuff they go through and all the stuff that could happen."
But the incident has cost Williams thousands of dollars in medical bills, which is why he posted the video on the internet.
Williams says, "it wasn't to make law enforcement look ridiculous, it was just to pay back my medical bills. I could be dead but there is reason I stayed alive and I'm thankful for that."
MyFox - Austin
