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Reported by: Sarah Fortune Thursday, May 21, 2009 @06:48pm CST
Samantha McDaniel Shares Story To Help Others
“I shouldn’t be alive right now but I am.” Samantha McDaniel says suicide was her motive when she called 9-1-1 several times encouraging police to chase her. That chase occurred late February. It ended when police shot McDaniel several times after she flashed the officers with a BB-gun.
She’s now sharing her story and battle with depression to help others who may be in a similar situation.
Samantha says she remembers very little about the day she called police provoking them to chase and ultimately shoot her. “It wasn’t planned. I have a lot of blanks in my mind, I remember calling 9-1-1 but not what I said. I just remember thinking, ‘I can’t do this myself so why not suicide by cop,’” she said.
One bullet is left inside her body, doctors fear removing it could paralyze her. “I remember getting shot and seeing the blood on me. I felt the bullets and I just stepped back then fell to the grown. I woke up in an ambulance.
She says depression and suicidal thoughts are something she’s battled for years. “If I could take that night back I would. I’m doing better now the help I’m getting seems to be working well.”Samantha spent more than two weeks in the hospital then almost a week in jail. She now has a therapist and new medication. “Everyday it’s like a mountain and I’m not to the top yet but I will get there.”
One of the biggest turning points in Samantha’s life she say’s happened at Roberts Stadium during Cross Roads Christian Church’s Easter service. “I was saved on Easter Sunday and it felt amazing. A part of me that was missing got filled in that day.”
She now attends Cross Roads regularly and was recently baptized. “I was shocked how many people stood up for me and they all clapped. It felt like this huge weight was lifted it was so amazing. God has a purpose for me, there’s a reason I’m alive and it’s my job to find out what that reason is.
”Samantha is left with a collasped lung and bullet very close to her spinal cord, recovery will take time but it’s time she’s thankful to have.McDaniel hopes her story will help anyone struggling with suicidal thoughts. As for her criminal case, she is due back in court next month. Her attorney previously indicated he was working on a plea bargain with prosecutors.