EAST SPENCER, N.C. -- A police officer says his life was saved thanks to his handcuffs.
A suspect fired three times at the Rowan County cop, who still has the bullet fragments in his pocket as a souvenir.
Cpl. Mark Smith works for the small town of East Spencer in Rowan County.
"I certainly didn't expect this early Sunday morning, but it can happen in the blink of an eye and it did," Smith said.
He was shot.
"I thought he'd missed me all three times but I was wrong," he said.
Smith was working his regular shift that morning when he got a call to check out a prowler at an apartment complex not far from where he was patrolling. Smith says he pulled up and parked.
While he was checking out someone else who looked suspicious, the suspect started shooting.
"He spun quickly and fired three rounds at me. I ducked behind the car," Smith said.
It was hours later the K-9 officer actually realized he'd been hit.
"One struck my vest, basically in the pocket right here," Smith said, pointing to a small hole in his bulletproof vest.
It turns out, he was wearing the evidence that he had been shot.
"When I finally determined I had been hit and found that the handcuffs were my saving grace that night," said Smith.
The hole in his vest is remarkably tiny. But the hole the bullet made through the handcuffs inside the vest pocket is much more obvious.
"My handcuffs took the brunt of the bullet and caused the bullet to break into a lot of little pieces, and that was the end of that bullet," Smith said.
Smith says he's planning to frame the fragments and the pen that was inside the pocket -- also now in pieces.
"I thought I got real lucky because he missed me and we were only about 10 feet apart," Smith said. "Later on, I found out I wasn't as lucky as I thought I was, but I was still very lucky."
