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Marine Vet Becomes Suffolk County's First Full-Time, Double Amputee Police Officer

BRENTWOOD, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A U.S. Marine Corps veteran who lost both legs while serving overseas has become the first double amputee full-time police officer in Suffolk County.

As a little boy, Matias Ferreira dreamed of becoming a police officer.

He was born in Uraguay, and his family came to the United States when he was six years old. His mother said even before he became a Marine, he dreamed of being a police officer.

Ferreira never gave up on his dream, even after both of his legs had to be amputated below the knee after stepping on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2011.

"I had a really good support system that got me back into physical activities and before you knew it I was just really trying to get myself physically prepared to join the police department," Ferreira said. "I had a lot of my friends who were more severely injured tell me, 'Hey you can do this man, you can do it, go ahead.'" 

His dreams came true Friday.

With his wife and daughter in the audience, and with a smile on his face, Ferreira graduated from the Suffolk County Police Academy, WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported.

"To be honest with you I have my friends and family to thank for because when I was overseas I lost so many of my good friends that aren't with us today and their families are the ones who kept me going and my way of viewing it is that I'm trying to do this for them," Ferreira said.

After getting his prosthetic legs, he played on an all-amputee softball team.

"Our motto is life without limbs is limitless," Ferreira said. "We're able to do things that we use to do and more."

The team traveled the country, and during one of those trips, he met his wife, Tiffany, who told CBS2's Cindy Hsu she was immediately attracted to his strong spirit.

"I was like, can you just choose something safe now, please?" she said. "We love him and we're really excited for him and this awesome achievement." 

He is believed to be the nation's first double amputee to serve as a fully active police officer, according to a press release from the Suffolk County Police Department.

Ferreira hopes he can inspire others to follow their dreams.

"I think that anybody with or without a disability or an amputation can do anything they put their mind up to," he said.

Ferreira's class is full of heroes. Out of the 80 recruits, more than 70 percent are military veterans and more than 30 percent have previous law enforcement experience.

His fellow recruits elected him class president, so he gave the graduation address, sharing a bit about their training.

"Becoming temporarily immobilized via Taser and having a brief understanding of what it feels like to respond to an active shooter or a hostage situation," he recalled.

Ferreira will begin next week at the First Precinct in Babylon. He'll have no restrictions on the job.

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