Thinking positive Ex-SRU standout recovering from wounds suffered while shielding girl, 9, from gunfire
Plenty of former Slippery Rock University football players will be in the stands watching Saturday's NCAA Division II semifinal game at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
Braddock resident Jaimire Dutrieuille will be among them.
And while he's not playing football anymore, he is still giving back. And fighting back.
“I'm not shocked at all by what he's doing,” said former Rock running back Shamar Greene, Dutrieuille's roommate during their years at The Rock. “He's got a different perspective on life now.”
Dutrieuille played football at SRU from 2012 to 2015. His teams won 36 of 49 games, three division championships, two state titles and reached the NCAA playoffs three times.
On May 28, he nearly lost everything.
Shot while shielding girl, 9, from gunfire
“I went over to a friend's house (in North Braddock), waited on the front porch for him and gunfire breaks out,” Dutrieuille said. “His 9-year-old (niece who refers to Dutrieuille as her uncle) was sitting there. All I remember was getting in front of her.”
He woke up in a hospital bed a few days later, having taken bullets to the elbow, buttocks and head while shielding the girl and saving her life.
“When I first heard he was shot ... I was just angry,” Dutrieuille's mother, Heather Brooks, said. “I wanted to know where it was, how it happened, what were the circumstances. Jaimire has never been in trouble. He's always doing for other people. I kept asking, silently ... 'Why? Why?'”
Dutrieuille stayed at UPMC Mercy for more than a month. He had been in outpatient therapy until two weeks ago.
Now he's cleared to resume his life, which he wants to use to enrich the lives of others.
Helping others
Dutrieuille is starting a nonprofit program in his home community known as “Change Braddock People.” He wants to use sports as a means to keep youths ages 7 to 14 physically active and off the streets.“There's nothing for kids to do here,” he said. “I want to give them something to do — something positive. We've gained use of a basketball court. There's an open field we're using for football. We've got 15 to 20 kids signed up already, and we've barely started. My goal is to eventually get that number to 50 or 100.”A bullet lodged near Dutrieuille's optic nerve when he was shot. He still has some “fuzziness” in his right eye, but can see out of both.Weeks of physical therapy have straightened out his walking.“I can pretty much do everything I could do before. I still can't drive because PennDOT took my license after the accident,” Dutrieuille said. “But I know I'm capable of driving. I'm in the process of reapplying for my license.”In the meantime, Greene is proud to be his chauffeur. He's driven him to a couple of SRU games this season and is taking him to the game Saturday.'Amazing' recovery“I lived with the guy for four years. We're more like family than friends,” Greene said. “He is definitely a strong individual. When the shooting happened, the doctors thought he might have brain damage, that he may never see again. I went to that hospital to see him every day he was in there. The way he's bounced back, how quickly he's come back ... It's truly amazing.”Dutrieuille has been asked to speak to high school students at assemblies. He's already spoken at Franklin Regional. He will be speaking at his alma mater, Woodland Hills.“He didn't go to a dark place,” Brooks said of her son's recovery. “He easily could have shut down, been bitter and turned away from everybody. I know God is guiding him. He's turning this into a positive. Jaimire does not consider himself a victim and he wants to prevent others from becoming victims.”While Dutrieuille says his sports career is over, his life is beginning all over again.He is going back to SRU to complete his degree in safety management. He wants to get into coaching as well.When his football career at The Rock ended in 2015, he was among SRU's all-time top 5 with 172 pass receptions, 20 touchdown catches and 3,933 all-purpose yards.“I'll never play sports again, but I want to coach, preferably football,” he said. “Midget level, high school, college — I don't care. Now, I've got a story to tell. It's a story I don't want anyone else to experience — and won't if I can help it.”
