Officer Brian Richards received the Mother's Against Drunk Driving Hero Award on Thursday morning.NASHVILLE, Tenn. -
It has been nearly a year-and-a-half since a drunk driver hit and injured a Metro DUI officer, ending his career.
Thursday morning, Officer Robert Brian Richards was honored for his sacrifices.
Richards was the victim of the kinds of crashes he worked hard to prevent.
Saturday, May 1, 2010 is the day most in the Mid-State remember as the beginning of the flood.
However for Officer Richards it was the day that changed his life forever.
Officer Richards told Nashville's News 2 the day started as just another day on the DUI enforcement beat.
"I remember I had the green light," recalled Richards, describing his path toward downtown Nashville on Demonbreun Street.
"I went ahead through it, and the next thing was...," Richards trailed off and said remembering that day is difficult.
That's because another driver slammed into Richards' patrol car on the driver side.
It was a drunk driver who hit Richards with such impact he had to be cut out of the car by the fire department.
It was these kinds of crashes and Richards had spent the last year-and-a-half on the DUI beat trying to prevent.
In the 18 months he spent working with DUI enforcement, Richards made nearly 500 DUI arrests.
"I loved it," Richards told Nashville's News 2, "It is one crime or one arrest where you go home at the end of the night and you really made a difference, because you got that person off the street that could either hurt themselves or somebody else."
During his time in the DUI unit, Richards talked to Nashville's News 2 about the importance of DUI enforcement and the increase he had been seeing in the number of women being arrested for drunk driving.
The person, who hit Richards in May 2010, happened to be a woman.
"I was diagnosed with a concussion at that time," explained Richards, "Then the next few days, the concussion got worse and worse and my injuries couldn't get healed to come to work."
On Thursday morning, family and friends from the department gathered to recognize officer Richards at a pancake breakfast for his years of service.
He also received the Mother's Against Drunk Driving Hero Award.
"To see them come out here, take time out of their lives and work schedules, to say we do remember and we're not going to forget, means a lot," said Richards.
The drunk driver who hit Richards was placed on probation for 11 months and 29 days.
Richards is still undergoing treatment for head injuries and currently stays at home with his three children.
He said if those injuries improve enough, he would not hesitate to return to the DUI unit.
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