COCHISE COUNTY, AZ — A deputy with the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office is now back to work nearly six months after he fell 15 feet off an overpass during a pursuit.
Deputy Christopher Oletski was assigned to the Criminal Interdiction Team which focuses on border-related criminal activity including human smuggling, and drug trafficking.
ABC15 and Scripps News have launched this special series taking an in-depth look at life along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Oletski was working the night of September 28, 2023, when his team was pursuing a driver suspected of smuggling migrants from the border. When he went to put stop sticks out, he fell off the overpass to an embankment below.
New body camera video of the incident shows another deputy arriving at the chaotic scene to try and find a way for an ambulance to get down the embankment to transport Oletski.
You could hear other law enforcement officials render emergency aid.
"We don’t want to move his back at all,” the officials said.
Deputy Oletski tells ABC15 that along with substantial brain injuries, he broke his left femur, right side of his pelvis, right elbow, and wrist.
“It’s been difficult in the sense that this incident turned my life upside down,” Oletski said in his first on-camera interview since returning to work.
Watch an extended version of Oletski's emotional interview in the player below.
Oletski has gone through rehabilitation for months and is still continuing the process.
"You're taking a guy that was in the military for 20 years, he wants to serve his country and his community as a deputy sheriff," Oletski said. "You're taking a guy who ran triathlons, who has climbed some of the toughest mountains on this continent, who ran obstacle course races, and for a short period of time, all of that was removed.”
Oletski does not remember the fall during the pursuit, or several days after.
“The reason why I am okay with getting hurt is because in my eyes, the way I look at it, if I didn't try to stop that vehicle, it was going to go up the road and maybe kill a family. If I didn't try to stop that vehicle, the driver could have made a terrible decision and killed the passengers inside of that vehicle. If I didn't stop that vehicle, the passenger could have gone up the road or the driver could have gone up the road and killed themselves,” he said.
Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels tells ABC15 that many of the border-related crimes are US citizens coming into his county.
In 15 months, Sheriff Dannels said that there were 566 smuggling drivers booked into the county jail for class two felonies.
Dannels said that over the past two years, there have been 2,884 people in our jail for border crimes.
“And these are not the immigration issues, these are state crimes, all the way up to murder. Of the 2,884, I want to disclaim this myth, only 154 were illegally in the country or foreign-born. These are US citizens [who] come into Cochise County primarily from all over the country to commit international crime with criminal cartels.”
Deputies in Cochise County have also had around 400 pursuits in the past few years.
“I had two deputies last year almost killed. I mean, both went through harrowing type of events and it's a morale hit,” said Sheriff Dannels.
The Criminal Interdiction team consists of five members from the sheriff's department with their goal being to catch as many load vehicles in remote areas of the county as they're able.
The suspect identified in the pursuit with Deputy Oletski was identified as 47-year-old Amber Bernadette Fuaga from Maricopa, Arizona. She was arrested for human smuggling and DUI related to the incident and had additional charges pending.
As for Deputy Oletski, his recovery was expected to go on for 12 to 18 months before he would possibly return to work. For now, Oletski will be on light duty while he continues his rehabilitation.