The Safariland SAVES Club isn’t just a list of names—it’s a testament to lives protected and second chances granted. Each member has a story, a moment when the right gear made all the difference.
This series introduces you SAVES Club members and their stories, highlighting individuals who put their lives on the line in the line of duty and, in turn, had their lives saved by their gear. In this installment, we meet Officer Katelynne Nitschke, whose life was saved not by one, but by three pieces of quality gear.
BACKGROUND
Officer Katelynne Nitschke is a police officer in the small town of Adel in southern Georgia. She had been on the force for roughly a year and a half before the call that would become her SAVES event.
THE CALL
She and another officer were on duty in the early morning hours of May 22, 2021. During the interview for this article, Katelynne noted that she doesn’t remember all the finite details due to the trauma, but she recounted what she could.
Around 2 a.m., Officer Nitschke was patrolling the streets of the sleeping town of Adel. Dispatch received a call from a woman in neighboring Cook County, reporting that her boyfriend had taken her car without permission—essentially a stolen vehicle, or what Katelynne refers to as a misuse of a vehicle. The woman provided a possible location: a nearby apartment complex in Adel.
The man in question was known to police and kept company with someone who was suspected of being involved in a shooting a week prior, so they were cautious.
Katelynne and her Sergeant, the only two officers on duty that night, responded to the area and located the vehicle parked at the apartments on Tony Street. The man in question was known to law enforcement and was frequently in the company of someone suspected of being involved in a shooting the week prior, so the officers approached the situation with caution. Her sergeant approached from one direction, and Katelynne approached from the other, in their patrol cars.
The sergeant parked and exited his vehicle first, approaching the vehicle from the front while shining his light inside to get a better look. Katelynne parked and exited her patrol car behind the stolen vehicle, only to realize she didn’t have her body camera on her vest. She quickly returned to attach it and then approached the vehicle from the rear passenger side.
As Katelynne was moving in, her sergeant spotted someone inside and yelled, “Let me see your hands!”
Hearing that, Katelynne rushed to assist in the situation. As she approached the rear passenger side and went to draw her weapon, the passenger door popped open. The individual inside began to exit the car, pointing a .45 ACP pistol in her direction. As the suspect emerged, Katelynne was shot and hit three times. She fell to the ground, unsure of where she had been hit, and scrambled to safety as her sergeant returned fire.
Back on the other side of her patrol vehicle, her sergeant told her to assess her injuries and apply any necessary tourniquets. After a quick sweep of her injuries, she drew her own weapon, since she didn’t know where the suspect was. Knowing she’d been shot multiple times and was in shock, Katelynne took stock of her injuries and thought for sure she wasn’t going to make it.
At some point, the sergeant called for back-up, and sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene. The sergeant directed them to ensure Katelynne’s safety, and they pulled her to a safe area. As another deputy arrived, he worked with the sergeant to track down the suspect, who had expired about a block away from the shooting location.
The ambulance arrived shortly after and rushed Katelynne to the hospital. Her initial injuries were gunshot wounds with entry points in the left hip, abdomen, and buttock area. Officials there discovered her Safariland® SX02 Level II armor had stopped the .45 ACP round that struck less than half an inch from the lower edge.
RECOVERY & LIFE AFTER
Officer Nitschke spent two days in the hospital before being released to recover at home. During the initial assessment, five to six bullet wounds were identified. Most of the wounds healed without issue, but the one on her hip required surgery a few weeks later in an attempt to remove the bullet. Unfortunately, the bullet had traveled into the muscle, and doctors were unable to extract it. Katelynne is reminded of it by a persistent ache whenever it’s cold or raining.
Katelynne explained how her gear helped save her life: each of the shots she took deflected off something — whether a magazine pouch, body armor, or holster — slowing and altering the bullets’ original trajectories. One round deflected off her magazine pouch before hitting her leg, ultimately landing about a centimeter from an artery. Katelynne believes the gear kept her from more severe injury—that it saved her beyond measure.
While on the way to the hospital in the back of the ambulance, Katelynne thought for sure she was done with law enforcement. That thought lingered for about a day before it hit her that she truly loved her job and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. She decided not to let fear keep her from what she loves and ultimately wouldn’t trade being an officer for anything in the world.
Katelynne was able to return to work after about three months of recovery. Following a seven-to-eight-month stint in investigations, she came up for promotion. Her chief let her know they were ready for her to return to patrol—if she was ready, too. She was, and in April 2022, she was promoted to corporal. She’s been with the Adel Police Department ever since.
One beautiful thing to come out of her incident: Katelynne’s recovery was helped by a friend — the deputy who pulled her to safety that night. During her recovery time, the two grew close and began dating. They later married and are now expecting twins this summer.
