Trafalgar Officer Moody talks about recovery journey after critical accident

Eight months after his critical car accident, Trafalgar Officer Dustin Moody is taking recovery one day at a time.

He’s currently bound to a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down. His life and his family’s life has changed drastically in these last eight months, as they adjust to this new, but hopefully temporary, normal.

Moody returned home to Greenwood in December after around six months in the hospital and then in a rehab center in Chicago. He’s back with his two young boys, Nolan and Bennett, and his wife, Emily.

He helps out where he can, but he physically can’t do as much as he used to with his kids.

“Emily, obviously, she’s having to take the role now of taking on more responsibility with the kids more. I can help out, but some things I can’t do like I used to,” Moody said.

A lot has changed. The Moodys live in a small apartment while they wait for accessible renovations to be made to their house in Greenwood. A care team visits their temporary apartment in Greenwood to help Moody and his family. He does physical therapy three times a week as part of his recovery.

Moody is always asked, “how are you doing?” which he says he thinks is a loaded question.

“The truthful answer really is its day by day,” he said. “For me, the biggest thing is continuing to keep going. Like some days are harder to keep going because some days you’re like ‘Oh, what’s the point?’”

His crash in June while on duty with the Trafalgar Police Department caused critical injuries to his entire body and his spinal cord. He underwent surgeries at Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis, where he stayed for a month. He then stayed in a Chicago rehab facility after that.

Moody remembers that night somewhat clearly. Around 3 a.m. on June 25, Moody attempted to pull over a driver he believed was impaired, which led to a pursuit. It ended with both vehicles crashing into an embankment at the T-intersection of County Road 300 South and 600 West.

He was able to report the accident to dispatch over the radio. He didn’t realize how bad the accident was until he tried to get out of the Tahoe, and he couldn’t move. He couldn’t feel anything from his waist down. When he tried to breathe, he just felt gurgling in his lungs.

Over the radio, he told dispatch to tell his family he loved them.

“I didn’t feel like I was going to make it out. That was going to be the end,” Moody said.

As Eskenazi, he underwent various surgeries. He remembered going into an elevator where the nurses told him, “we’re not going to let you die today.” They weren’t sure if he was going to make it.

“The surgeon wasn’t sure why I was alive,” Moody said.

Now, months later, Moody is on his long journey to recovery. Thankfully, he said, his spinal cord was not severed, so he hopes to be able to walk again. And he has improved since the beginning because he now has some feeling in his legs, like pins and needles, he described it.

The healing process can take up to two years, he said. His next big step in therapy is to get leg braces in three to four weeks to help him with walking.

“I believe I’ll walk again,” Moody said. “I just don’t have a clue if that’s two years from now … but that’s the goal. I’m not giving up.”

Moody hasn’t been back to Trafalgar since the accident, but the community has out-poured support in these last eight months. Moody and his family are grateful for that, he said.

“It’s very humbling … as officers in this day and time, a lot is expected of an officer. You never know in your situation how a community will respond,” Moody said. “You can help others, but you never know until the time comes how the response will be from the other end. As officers, we always want to be the ones who are giving and protecting and doing our job. We aren’t usually on the receiving side of it.”

Different fundraisers in town have helped the Moody family with their expenses, There have been different dinners, breakfasts and events. A GoFundMe page for the family created in June has raised over $5,500 so far.

The Central Indiana Police Foundation and UpLift Johnson County have also begun collecting donations for the Moodys. Most recently this month, the police foundation wanted to raise money to purchase Moody an accessible van.

For the accessible van, the Moodys received good news at the end of February. A car dealership near Edinburgh is going to donate an accessible van to them.

They have not received it yet, so they aren’t quite celebrating, but it is a relief to have that likely taken care of, Moody said. They should pick it up in six to eight weeks, he said.

Overall, the financial aspect of the donations have “been a lifesaver,” Moody said. The family’s usual stream of income has been cut down since his accident, and medical expenses continue.

Emily had to leave her job to help him and their children full-time. Moody is receiving workman’s compensation and a portion of his police salary from Trafalgar while he’s recovering. Previously, they had various streams of income with their full-time jobs and different policing jobs Moody worked on the side.

“It’s an adjustment all of a sudden, and your bills don’t stop,” Moody said. “The town, they’ve helped a lot and with donations from various organizations and people, it has made a huge difference of being able to continue and not to stress and worry about bills.”

When he is fully recovered, Moody wants to continue being a police officer in Trafalgar. He’s been with the Trafalgar Police Department since 2019.

“Being a cop, I never thought of it as a job. It was what I loved doing,” Moody said.

He understands the risk of the job, but most officers do not think about becoming the ones who get critically injured. The night of the accident, he talked to Emily on the phone about setting meat out to thaw when he got home, just a normal conversation. In the span of one night, their whole lives changed, he said.

“You know, you go to work one night, and you’re supposed to go do your normal thing … then at four in the morning, my wife’s getting a knock at the door from my deputy chief saying, ‘Get in the car. We’ve got to go,’” Moody said.

People ask him often if he wished he never went after that vehicle. He could have easily ended his shift then and went home that night. He doesn’t regret the decision he made, he said.

“The night this happened, I saw a vehicle that I believed to be an impaired driver, based on the driving behavior. The way they were driving was a danger to the public,” Moody said. “I would be remiss if I didn’t … I took an oath of office to do my job and to protect and serve.”

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HOW TO HELP

A few fundraisers are available to donate to Trafalgar Officer Dustin Moody and his family.

UpLift Johnson County: upliftjoco.org/donate

Central Indiana Police Foundation: cipf.foundation/fundraiser-for-trafalgar-police-officer-dustin-moody/

GoFundMe: bit.ly/3SRf4Ah