(WWJ) A Detroit police officer has died three years after he was shot in the head while responding to a domestic violence call on the city's westside.
Mayor Mike Duggan said Waldis Johnson passed away after spending three years essentially in a coma. His family was hopeful back in 2017 that he would recover as he slowly started to breathe on his own and react to external stimulus with smiles. But he couldn't move or speak.
Officer Johnson and his partner were ambushed when they went to the Oakman Apartments on what was supposed to be a domestic violence call. Johnson was shot in the head by a 46-year-old man who was lying in wait.
The gunman was shot and killed by Johnson's partner.
It's a reminder, Duggan said, that police officers put their lives on the line everyday to keep residents safe.
In this instance, Johnson's son Arin Johnson told the Detroit News in 2017 his dad's shift was ending when he accepted the call that ended up taking his life. He went back out to help a citizen in danger because that's the kind of officer he was.
“He was literally pulling into his precinct (as his shift ended), and he didn’t want the girl in the domestic dispute to be in danger,” Arin Johnson said. “He said, ‘let’s just take the call so she doesn’t have to wait for another car.’