During a SWAT team operation in Burke County, North Carolina on December 11, 2007, Deputy Martin Lawing was critically injured and paralyzed by a single shot fired by a barricaded subject. When Deputy Lawing attempted to deploy a "throw phone" into the home of the subject, he was struck in the neck between his helmet and ballistic vest.

Martin is currently undergoing physical therapy in Atlanta for an injury that has physically changed him forever.