Starting Friday, cadets at the Houston Police Academy will be required to watch a new video starring two officers with tragic, personal reasons why seat belts are important.
They're two men with different struggles but the same message.
"It's not worth it, you need to have your seat belt on," former HPD officer J.D. Green said.
Green has been at TIRR in the Medical Center since the fall of 2012. He spends his days doing therapy.
"I have one hour of physical therapy and one hour of occupational therapy," he said.
Jason Roy does therapy too.
"Just trying to get stronger," Roy said.
Both men are medically retired from the Houston Police Department. Green is paralyzed from the neck down. Roy is walking and lifting again after he was paralyzed, too. Both were involved in horrendous crashes while on the job.
Roy was wearing his seat belt.
"Had I not had that seat belt on, I know I would not be here today," Roy said.
Green was not.
"If I would have had my seat belt on, would I have been paralyzed? Who knows, but there's a better chance I wouldn't have been," Green said.
Both jumped at the chance to tell their stories in a new training video for Houston Police Department cadets. Seatbelt safety is already stressed, but once on the job, they say many officers become complacent.
"It's uncomfortable," Roy said.
"It gets caught on gear, you have your gun, your radio, everything," Green said,
Their message: The two seconds it takes to click could make all the difference.
"If it helps five or 10 saves some lives, prevents injuries then it was all worth it," Roy said.
Green sets short-term goal, but he hopes to walk again in the long term.
