Exclusive Video-Jags Collier Remembers The Night That Ended His NFL Career

Published on February 5, 2009 by Seahawk Fanatic     

Richard Collier, the former Jacksonville Jaguars lineman who was shot in September and had his leg amputated, said in an interview published Tuesday that “I remember everything.”

According to an interview in the Orlando Sentinel, that includes thinking he hadn’t been injured initially. Only when he heard paramedics counting his injuries did he realize he’d been struck.

“When I got in the ambulance, I remember they were counting bullets,” Collier said. “I was like man, that’s a lot.”

Collier was shot 14 times.

Collier, who was shot Sept. 2, is now paralyzed from the waist down. He also had his left leg amputated below the knee in October.

Teammate Kenny Pettway, who was with Collier at the time of the shooting, was uninjured and now plays for the Green Bay Packers.

Tyrone Hartsfield has been charged with attempted murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in the Collier shooting. Police believe Hartsfield was retaliating against Collier for an altercation at a nightclub in April and followed his car to an apartment house, where the shooting occurred.

He is scheduled to be in court on Dec. 11.

“I’ve always been told I was a strong person,” Collier said, according to the Sentinel. “I think I never really paid attention to it. I realized now how much strength I really have, how much patience I have.

“I’ve realized there’s so much more to me than playing football.”

Tags: Altercation, Ambulance, Apartment House, Bullets, Exclusive Video, Felon, Green Bay Packers, Hartsfield, Jacksonville Jaguars, Left Leg, Lineman, Nfl Career, Orlando Sentinel, Paramedics, Patience, Pettway, Possession, Richard Collier, Teammate, Waist Down