Sometimes the greatest achievement can be mastering a small task.
Like learning how to tie your shoes when you have three partial fingers on one hand and none on the other.
Two years ago, Port Angeles Police Officer Mike Johnson, who is one of a handful of one-armed police officers in the nation, asked a group of child amputees at a Seattle gathering what they wanted to know about police officers — or anything else.
Ariahna Gregory of Federal Way wanted to be able to tie her own shoes.
So Johnson, whose left arm ends in a stump about 8 inches from his shoulder, showed her how he does it.
When they met again March 8 at Seattle Children’s Hospital, Ariahna, now 9, had news to share.
“She came running up to me, eyes glowing, huge toothy grin. She was so excited to tell me she could tie her shoes,” Johnson said Friday.
“My heart just swelled. It brought tears to my eyes,” said the 6-foot-4, 275-pound officer.
For the past three years, Johnson, 30, has met with children at the Seattle hospital’s Limb Differences Social, along with other adult role models for those who are differently formed.
Some, like Johnson, were born different.
Others, like Ariahna, were made that way.
When she was 10 months old, Ariahna was sickened by meningococcus bacteria, said her grandmother, Candi Field, who has raised the child since birth.
The infection, which is spread through the air, gave Ariahna meningitis and shut down the blood supply to her hands and feet.
The disease is often deadly. After three weeks in intensive care, Ariahna survived.
But the doctors couldn’t save her fingers or feet.
She has no fingers on her left hand and three stubs of fingers on her right.
Her legs were amputated halfway up her shins, Field said.
Those shoes she learned to tie are on prosthetic legs.
“She has such a huge bubbly personality,” Johnson said.
“You meet people sometimes you just know have good hearts. She’s one of those.”
The feeling is mutual, Fields said Friday.
“Officer Johnson is absolutely wonderful. Ariahna just loves him. He takes the time out; he taught her how to tie her shoes,” Fields said.
“She was so excited he was there, she made him a police car.”
Fields said Johnson told Ariahna he would put the wooden car she had painted like a police patrol car on his desk in Port Angeles, where he has worked since 2007.
Johnson said one of the hardest challenges he has encountered was “convincing people to give me a chance.”
“This is an exceedingly physically taxing job. You have to be in the right shape. You have to be physical capable for everyone’s safety.”
And he was. Johnson was a multisport athlete at Skyline High School in Sammamish.
Although eventually injuries forced him to quit wrestling, he became known for his skill as a center on the state champion football team.
Still — “it was hard to get into the [police] academy,” he said.
“Chief Tom Riepe at the time and Deputy Chief Terry Gallagher, now Chief Gallagher, gave me that chance.”
Training at the academy after he was hired by the Port Angeles Police Department, Johnson became one of five squad leaders, and after another 14 weeks of field training, he started his first law enforcement job.
“He gets accolades all the time for his work,” said Deputy Chief Brian Smith, a law enforcement veteran who joined the Port Angeles force in 2008.
“Mike’s a treasure of a person. And he happens also to be an excellent police officer and emergency medical technician.”
Johnson is one of three trained emergency medical technicians on the city force, having earned a degree in the EMT program at Central Washington University in Ellensburg.
He also participated in a search-and-rescue unit and worked as a juvenile correctional officer.
Before applying to the Police Department in Port Angeles, where he has family, Johnson had a short stint as a private executive security officer.
He said he has never made much attempt to make life easier on himself; he prefers to adapt and overcome.
“Until recently, all of my [personal] cars were manual,” he said.
He learned to steer with his stump while shifting gears with his right hand.
The only non-standard equipment on his patrol car is a foot switch for the radio so he can talk without taking his right hand off the steering wheel.
A neoprene wrap on his other arm holds a flashlight, and he has arranged his duty belt so he can reach everything he needs using his right hand.
Bringing his skills and adaptations to the children who will need to learn similarly unique approaches to life is a privilege and a duty, he said.
“There are some opportunities in this line of work that are so heartfelt and so rewarding,” he said.
“Those experiences embody what we stand for as police officers and our dedication to serve the people we protect.”
In a way, when Johnson returns to the Limb Clinic, he’s going home.
Sharon Greenberg, an occupational therapist there, was Johnson’s therapist as a child.
“She delights in taking me by the elbow and leading me around to meet the parents and kids,” he said.
“I’m there to say, ‘It’s going to be OK,’” he added.
Smith said Johnson’s having only one full arm “isn’t really the defining feature about him.
“When I think of Mike, I think of a big bear of a guy who is a great police officer, a great community member and a great human being.
“We all have differences . . . When he goes to see those kids, that’s the message they get.
“He had to work around certain challenges, but it doesn’t define him.
“We work hard to find people like him,” Smith added.
“We think we have an excellent police department and a lot of wonderful people.
“Mike fits right in.”
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or at leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
