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Orlando officer injured a year ago told he'll never be a cop again

ORLANDO, Fla. — It has been one year since an Orlando police officer was nearly killed when he was run over during a traffic stop.

Officer William Anderson has endured setbacks in his recovery over the past year, but Channel 9 was told he is recovering well.

Anderson was making a routine traffic stop on July 13, 2015, when things went wildly awry.

Anderson was responding to a call of shots fired when he made the stop.

A passenger in the car fled on foot and the driver, Deward Kelty, then 17, took off, running over Anderson in the process, police said.

He was seriously injured in the crash, and Kelty was arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder of a law enforcement officer.

Anderson was able to fire a shot at the fleeing car while being run over and hit Kelty in the arm.

The teen was not seriously injured, but Anderson was permanently disabled with a brain injury from the incident, officers said.

During a bail hearing for Kelty in January, Anderson’s wife, Jessica Anderson, described her husband’s injuries.

“He ended up being in a condition where his entire body tremored uncontrollably,” she said. “He could not feed himself. He could not walk. He could barely speak.

“He eventually, with rehabilitation, was able to regain those skills.”

The Orlando Police Department posted to Twitter Wednesday, encouraging people to remember what happened to Anderson a year ago.

“He’s healing,” the post said. “Please keep him in your thoughts today.”

Anderson, his wife and their young daughter were part of a prayer circle at the Orlando Police Headquarters Wednesday evening, where Anderson spoke about his recovery and his future.

He said the night comes back to him in flashbacks.

“Really flares up the PTSD. Just seeing what someone can actually do to another human being,” he said.

Anderson said he recently learned his dreams of retiring as a police officer are over.

“Never expected to say it. It’ll be nine years in August. I expected to do 28 years and it’s kind of heart-wrenching,” he said.

And since the incident, he hasn’t been able to do something that used to be simple—picking up his 2-year-old daughter Abby.

“Still have not been able to pick her up,” he said. “I was on a 10-pound limit for a while and still am actually from the surgery.”

Memory loss also remains, along with tremors, and reliance on his service dog, Polo.  His wife said day-by-day, they're pushing through the scary moments.

"I sat in April in ICU begging God for my husband not to die,” she said. “I mean, I thought he was going to die from an infection he got.”