Richard Collier Richard Bernard Collier ( born October 23 , 1981 in Shreveport , Louisiana ) is a former professional American football player . He played offensive tackle for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League ( NFL ) from 2006 – 2008 , until a shooting incident left him paralyzed from the waist down , ending his football career . Collier played college football for the Valdosta State University Blazers . He was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2006 as an undrafted free agent , and played two seasons for the team . His career was cut short after he suffered multiple gunshot wounds in early September 2008 . As a result he was left paralyzed and with his left leg amputated . Early life . Collier was born and raised in Shreveport , Louisiana . He played football at Northwood High School , where he graduated in 2001 . Poor grades prevented him from attending college , and he spent the next two years working in the produce section of a local Wal - Mart . Eventually , he decided to give football and college another try , and enrolled at Tyler Junior College in Texas . There he soon improved both his grades and his physical fitness , and made the Tyler football team ' s starting lineup . In 2004 he transferred to Valdosta State University in Georgia , where he played for the Valdosta State Blazers football team . The team won the 2004 NCAA Division II National Football Championship , and Collier received All - America honors in 2005 , his senior year . Professional career . Following the 2006 NFL Draft , Collier was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent on April 30 . He made the final roster following the preseason and went on to play in four games his rookie season , all in a reserve role . He was inactive for the first 12 games of the 2007 season . He was suspended for two games and fined by Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio after being arrested for driving under the influence on November 3 . Not wanting to bring additional negative publicity to the team and threaten a potential chance at making the starting lineup , he pled no contest to all charges at the subsequent hearing and made a public vow to keep himself out of trouble . He appeared in the team ' s final four games of the season and made his first career start in the regular season finale against the Houston Texans on December 30 . In May 2008 , the Jaguars signed Collier to a contract extension . That season he played on all four of the Jaguars ' preseason games in a reserve role . Shooting . On September 2 , 2008 , Collier was shot and critically wounded outside an apartment building in Jacksonville ' s Riverside neighborhood . Collier was in the passenger seat of a car driven by his former Jacksonville teammate Kenny Pettway at the time of the attack ; it was later revealed that he had suffered 14 gunshot wounds and was left paralyzed from the waist down . A blood clot later caused the amputation of his left leg above the knee . Pettway , who had been in the driver ' s seat , was unharmed . Earlier in the night Collier and Pettway had been at the Jacksonville nightclub Square One , where they met up with two women , Collier ' s former girlfriend and her sister , as well as fellow Jaguars player Clint Ingram . After midnight Ingram went home and Collier and Pettway drove the women to their apartment in Riverside . They were waiting for them in the car when they were attacked from behind in what some media reports called an " ambush " . Two days after the shooting , the Jaguars placed Collier on the non - football injury reserve list . Later that month , when the extent of his injuries were revealed , it was confirmed that his football career was over . One man , Tyrone Hartsfield , was arrested and charged with attempted murder . The Jacksonville Sheriff ' s Office believed the shooting was in retaliation for an altercation the two men had had months earlier ; Hartsfield had filed a report with the police in April after Collier had punched him in a scuffle at another nightclub . The prosecution ' s case involved testimony from a friend of Hartsfield ' s , who said he had been with Hartsfield the night of the shooting and later secretly recorded a conversation with him for the police . Largely on the strength of this testimony the jury found Hartsfield guilty in November 2009 ; he was subsequently sentenced to life in prison . Later life . In 2009 , one year after the shooting , Collier was unanimously elected to receive the Ed Block Courage Award by his Jacksonville teammates . In 2010 Collier featured in the documentary film " The 904 " , which discusses Jacksonville ' s murder rate and the city ' s attempts to reduce it . Collier married his long - time girlfriend Chandra Baker in November 2010 . With the aid of a prosthetic limb and a specially designed body brace , he was able to stand for the ceremony .