HILLSBORO, Oregon — Inside a Southwest Washington physical therapy office, 70-year-old Washington County Civil Deputy Charles "Chuck" Dozé works hard trying to get his body back to where it once was.
He’s not out of shape, in fact, he’s in really good shape. He’s used to staying active with a love of hiking and running; but ever since his injury last summer, some things aren’t working like they used to.
“The grip is one of the biggest improvements, just because of the nature of that injury," his physical therapist commented.
In July of 2023, Deputy Dozé was shot in the line of duty seven times while serving an eviction notice at a Tualatin apartment. He spent two weeks in the hospital before he was released to continue his rehabilitation and recovery at home. At the time, it was said it could take months, or even years, for Dozé to recover from his injuries.
A call to serve
Eleven years ago, at the age of 59, he switched careers and left his job in the automotive industry. His two children, now adults, had moved out and he was ready for that next stage in his life, he said.
“I’ve always had a strong desire to be in service," Dozé said. “The strong feeling I had to be in service really rekindled and that’s when I came to Washington County and applied.”
That desire to serve to him to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, first working as a reserve deputy and then five years ago he was sworn in as a civil deputy.
“Our day consists of serving subpoenas, restraining orders, orders of assistance, restraining order moveouts and also evictions,” he said.
Remembering that July day
July 26, 2023 had begun just like any other day.
He grabbed his stack of papers from the Washington County Courthouse and put together his route for the day.
“My subpoenas, my restraining orders and such and then I got a call from Deputy Schroeder to assist on an eviction in my district in Tualatin and responded with an affirmative,” he said.
That phone call would forever change his life. The eviction was for a man inside apartment B201 at the Forest Rim Apartments in Tualatin. The apartments have since changed the name to Timbers at Tualatin.
Dozé was there with two other deputies, Deputies Burkhead and Schroeder. He said he started asking questions about the eviction and the man inside, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
“There was nothing in the paperwork that showed there was any sort of risk,” Dozé said.
They were given permission by property management to enter the apartment, he said, and they made their way up the stairs to the second story floor. Deputy Schroeder was by the door, Burkhead was to the right of it, and Dozé was on the stairs, he remembered.
“It’s a very small, extremely tight landing," he said. "We’re talking about a few feet at most from the doorway to the next apartment."
The man inside was Kris Graves. Court paperwork shows that Graves had failed to pay rent and utilities for the month of May. Dozé said the deputies knocked and didn’t get an answer. They tried using the key they had been given from management, but the door wouldn’t open.
That’s when Deputy Schroeder started to kick the door in, he said.
“The door popped open and Deputy Schroeder rolled away, as per protocol, and that’s when the shooting started. I mean it was instantaneous,” Dozé said. “He [Graves] was prepared. It was an ambush. He was not going to go.”
Dozé’s memory of that day is as strong as he is. He remembers the details about what happened. He said he remembers having his hand on his gun and he thinks it was pulled from his holster when the shooting started. He remembers holding his hands in front of his face, which was bleeding badly.
His left side went dark and he collapsed.
Dozé had been shot seven times by the man inside apartment B201.
“One in each elbow, three in the chest, one on the right side of my head that grazed me and I got a 6-inch scar and the last bullet struck me in the left temple. Came down through my eye, destroyed my eye, destroyed all of my sinuses, came out through the roof of my mouth and exited taking some teeth with it,” Dozé said pointing out the multiple places he was hit.
In all of the chaos, the three deputies were trapped on the landing outside the second floor apartment. As the deputies had pulled Dozé out of the door’s sightline and off to the side, Graves had started shooting again. Dozé said he thought the worst.
“I remember saying, 'I think I'm gonna die,' and I said that a couple times," he said. "Deputy Schroeder goes, 'You're not gonna die.' The way Deputy Schroeder said it, I don't know what, but there was something in the way that he said it. I feel like maybe God was actually saying it through him to me. I responded, 'Ok I won't.'”
During the entire time, the parking lot of the apartment complex had become a beehive of active officers and deputies rushing to the area after the call of a deputy down came screaming across the radios.
“I could hear the sirens, I could hear people yelling,” Dozé said.
Bleeding badly and unable to move and escape, they remained trapped up there. Officers in the parking lot were devising a plan to rush up there and safely bring them down. Then after nearly 15 minutes, four plainclothes detectives from the Tigard Police Department rushed up the stairs and helped carry Dozé to safety.
He had escaped death. His life forever changed.
“It was a day I won’t soon forget,” he said.
Unbeknownst to the deputies, Graves would later be found dead inside his apartment from a self-inflicted gun shot wound.
Road to recovery
Dozé would spend ten days in the hospital undergoing multiple surgeries to repair the damage done by the bullets that entered his body.
His left eye was destroyed, and he now wears a prosthetic. He has nerve damage in his face and arms.
“I had a lot of angels that day. I had a lot of angels,” He said.
Those same angels in blue, including those that rushed to save him that July day, lined the walk outside the hospital as he went home, giving him a hero’s reception back into the community he felt the call to serve.
Still with months of physical therapy and multiple surgeries ahead of him, the work continues to get his body back in the condition he was used to being in.
“They said one of the reasons I probably survived all of this was because of the physical condition I’m in," he said.
He still lacks hand strength and said that right now, even opening a bag of chips is hard.
When asked if he wants to get back on the job, he replied with "Who wouldn't?", though followed it up by saying he doesn't yet know if he will.