“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
Jesus’ words, found in John 15:13, provide a framework for the most selfless form of love. And a brave Detroit police officer’s harrowing decision last summer to risk her own life to try and save her partner is a touching example of what it truly means to value another in such a profoundly beautiful way.
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Officer Amanda Hudgens, 30, found herself in an unthinkable situation after a July 6 ambush by 19-year-old Ehmani Davis left her partner, Loren Courts, 40, critically injured.
Courts was shot in the neck, leaving Hudgens to make a split-second decision to put her partner above herself, pressing her hand against his wound to stem the blood, according to the Kitsap Sun.
But stopping to help put Hudgens in harm’s way, as the shooter hadn’t yet been neutralized.
“I’m not leaving him; I’m not running,” she later told the Kitsap Sun, recounting what unfolded in those brutal, life-altering moments. “He’s still breathing in my hands and I’m still holding pressure.”
Hudgens also chose to intentionally shield Courts, whom she considered her best friend and a loyal fellow cop, to protect him from further gunfire.
“I just turned my body,” she said. “I knew my vest would at least cover, protect his major organs.”
Other officers on the scene shot and killed Davis and brought the carnage to an end. But Courts tragically died in Hudgens’ arms — a heartbreaking ending to a bleak circumstance.
Detroit Police Chief James White praised Hudgens last July after the tragic scenario, noting she “put her life on the line” and was “prepared to die” for her friend and partner.
“She’s a hero,” White said. “She’s beyond a hero.”
Hudgens has struggled with this label as she has processed all that unfolded, but she continues to heal and has no plans to abandon law enforcement.
“You are a hero; you are not God,” Hudgens told the Kitsap Sun, reflecting her therapist’s sentiment. “I did everything I could for Loren, in my power to save Loren. But the only person that could bring Loren back is God.”
Read more about the hero’s story here, and continue to pray for Hudgens and Courts’ family as they navigate the grief and pain they’ve experienced.
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