He cannot speak. The cop who fired at Laferriere was no more than 20 feet away from him, near the wall surrounding the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City. The bullet hammered into his throat, crushing his larynx, which contains the vocal chords, as well as the trachea, the thumb-thick wind pipe that brings air to the lungs. He now has a steel plate in his throat and breathes through a small metal hole. He speaks in a faint whisper and with difficulty, wincing at the pain from the 6-inch stainless steel pipe stuck in his throat.
Every breath burns.
It's like someone is grabbing me by the throat and trying to choke me. It's hard, like a rock. That's what hit me squarely in the throat. It was travelling at 300 feet per second. And somehow I had the reflex to reach down and grab it and put it in my pocket.