A Sporting Chance : Paralyzed Athlete Presented With Special Honor for Being an Inspiration to Others

Martin Hernandez is not bitter, or even angry. But sometimes, he says, seeing a baseball “gets me a little bit down.”

Hernandez, 19, was an aspiring baseball player and police officer when he was wounded in a drive-by shooting last January that left him paralyzed from the waist down. But with the same indomitable spirit that made him a standout athlete, Hernandez is determined to overcome his injury and move on with his life.

While undergoing therapy at Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center in Downey, he kept up with his studies and graduated with classmates at Leuzinger High School in Lawndale last June. Now a mass communications major at El Camino College near Torrance, Hernandez also finds time to play wheelchair basketball and tennis and to continue serving as a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Explorer.

In recognition of his accomplishments, Colours ‘N Motion, an Anaheim-based wheelchair manufacturer, joined Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block on Friday in presenting Hernandez with a specially designed lightweight wheelchair made of aluminum. The chair is easier to maneuver, especially on a basketball or tennis court.

“It’s going to improve my ability to play sports, and most of the things I’m trying to accomplish,” Hernandez said of his new gift, presented during a brief ceremony at the Audrey and Sidney Irmas Youth Center.

“Thank you very much,” Hernandez said. “I won’t let you down. I’m going to keep improving myself more and more.”

*

John Box, owner of Colours ‘N Motion who himself was paralyzed after a motorcycle accident in 1981, said he first learned about Hernandez during a conversation with Block in November and wanted to do something for the young man. Box said the wheelchair, which he designed and would normally cost about $1,800, will enable Hernandez to play a variety of sports.

“We are proud to make this donation,” Box said. “He deserves it.”

Martin’s brother Alberto, 22, stood a few feet away, beaming. “After the accident, I thought he would give up,” Alberto Hernandez said. “But he hasn’t. It’s taught me a lesson. Never give up on your dreams. No matter what happens, just keep on going.”

Martin Hernandez of Inglewood was standing with a group of friends outside a party in Hawthorne last Jan. 22 when he was struck by a bullet fired from a passing car. The bullet pierced his chest, just missed his heart and lodged in his spine, crippling him for life.

The news shattered family members, who had watched him work hard at baseball in hopes it could be a ticket to higher education. Hernandez, a B student who took advanced classes, had been trying to obtain such a baseball scholarship.

But Hernandez said his ultimate goal was to become a sheriff’s deputy, “to help people out anyway I can.” A 1992 graduate of the sheriff’s Explorer program, he was working at the Lennox station at the time he was shot.

“What makes him extra special is that here is a young man in the very prime of his life who was cut down,” Block said. “It would have been very easy for him to give up. Instead, he was determined to fight this. I think he is an inspiration not only to other young people but to all of us.”

*

Block said that the two individuals responsible for Hernandez’s injury were arrested and convicted of the crime, with one now serving a 16-year sentence and the other a seven-year sentence.

Hernandez said he is not angry at his assailants.

“I’ve never had a grudge against anybody,” he said. “I just hope they learned their lesson, just by seeing what they did, by realizing what they did was wrong and making a change. That would be the best thing that could happen. Instead of them getting out of jail and doing the same thing.”