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Woburn officer on life-changing duty: 'I know exactly the pain they're going through'

WOBURN, Mass. — Every day, a police officer leaves for work knowing they may not return.

Woburn police officer Robert DeNapoli’s life changed in an instant on the morning of September 6, 2011.

“I’m doing OK,” he told Boston 25 News Tuesday. “I’m where I’m at. I’m not getting any better, hopefully, I won’t get any worse.”

He was a mile away from Musto Jeweler’s on Cambridge Street when he got called to a robbery in progress.

Robert was first on scene and immediately was caught in a firefight for his life.

“I was like ‘bam, bam, bam, bam,’ and, all of a sudden, it was like, ‘where did my gun go?’” he said. “I lost my gun. I didn’t lose my gun, it got shot out of my hand.”

Robert lost a fingertip when that happened. Then more shots. Into his arms, his legs; one shot hit his eye.

“I felt like somebody hit me with a baseball bat,” he said. “A bullet ricocheted and hit me in the corner of my eye and fractured everything in there.”

Robert survived the shooting, but his life was forever changed, in a moment, in the line of duty.

And now his thoughts turn to Weymouth and the late Police Sergeant Michael Chesna.

“With the police department and the family of Sgt. Chesna, I know exactly the pain they are going through,” He said.

DeNapoli is retired from the force, but he co-founded a group called Violently Injured Police Officers – a group formed to help other police officers hurt in the line of duty.

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