Baton Rouge officer injured in shooting recovering in Houston

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- It's been named the second best rehab center in the nation, TIRR Memorial Hermann. Now an injured Baton Rouge deputy will take the next step here in Houston.

The air ambulance carrying Deputy Nick Tullier landed near Hobby Airport this morning. His Facebook followers tracking his recovery were notified that he "made it to Houston."

Deputy Nick Tullier wasn't expected to live even 24 hours. He was one of the heroes injured in the Baton Rouge officer ambush in July where three officers died. He's the last to remain in the hospital.

With damage to the left side of his brain from bullets and bone fragments, this is where he'll take the next step. TIRR Memorial Hermann is one of the premiere rehab facilities for brain and spinal cord injuries.

"It's a phenomenal place that gives you hope and they are going to be in for a long haul," said retired HPD Officer Jason Roy. "He knows something about fighting to survive and learning to walk again."

"2011, May 3 my life changed forever," Roy said.

He went through rehab at TIRR following a critical injury to his neck and spinal cord after a chase crash in 2011. While he doesn't know Tullier's specific injuries he knows the tough road ahead.

"I would try to move and nothing would work and I would cry. I would try to do it again," he said. And the treatment at TIRR helped him make those first steps.

"They want to know what did the doctors tell you, I would never walk again. But that doesn't have to be your story. Your story doesn't end here," Roy said.

The retired officer now works as a TIRR peer, encouraging patients through his personal story and says if he could talk to TIRR's newest patient and his family he would offer this, "He can not give up. Never give up."