Officer returns to work after being shot while on duty

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – An Idaho police officer returned to duty after suffering a gunshot wound while responding to a call.

The Coeur d’Alene Press reports Officer Charles Hatley of the Coeur d’Alene Police Department returned to duty earlier this month and called the experience “eye-opening.”

Hatley and fellow Officer Taylor Beach responded Feb. 27 as backup to a traffic stop initially made by Officer Kelly Mongan who served an outstanding arrest warrant to Curtis Bradley Ware.

Ware became combative and exchanged gunfire with officers, wounding Hatley in the abdomen, before being shot and killed by police.

Hatley underwent surgery and was released three days later.

Hatley, at the time of the incident, was in the third week of the first phase of the department’s training program. He was hired by the department in August.