{"id":69287,"date":"2025-12-03T07:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T07:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/69287\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T07:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T07:28:07","slug":"port-st-lucie-sergeant-remains-critical-needs-specialized-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/69287\/","title":{"rendered":"Port St. Lucie sergeant remains critical, needs specialized surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. \u2014 A 27-year veteran of the Port St. Lucie Police Department remains in critical condition after being <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wptv.com\/news\/treasure-coast\/region-st-lucie-county\/port-st-lucie\/port-st-lucie-police-officer-shot-transported-to-hospital\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">shot in the face Monday night<\/a>, and doctors say he will soon need to be transferred for a highly specialized surgery.<\/p>\n<p>WATCH WPTV&#8217;S COVERAGE BELOW:<\/p>\n<p>Police release body-camera video after Port St. Lucie shootout<\/p>\n<p>Police say Sgt. Erik Levasseur has undergone a second surgery to repair facial injuries, has a wired jaw, and now relies on a tracheotomy. He remains in a medically induced coma. Doctors have confirmed shrapnel in his retina, requiring a special team of expert surgeons, and preparations are underway to transfer him to a specialized hospital.<\/p>\n<p>Port St. Lucie Police Headquarters, usually illuminated in blue light, carries a deeper meaning tonight as the department continues to support one of its own who is \u201cstill fighting the good fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Monday night, Sgt. Levasseur and five other officers responded to a neighbor dispute in a gated Tradition neighborhood. They were met by gunfire.<\/p>\n<p>Body-worn camera video captured officers calling out to Levasseur after he was struck.<\/p>\n<p>Police say Sgt. Levasseur was shot twice in the face by an AK-style rifle.<\/p>\n<p>Joe Edge, who has known Sgt. Levasseur for decades \u2014 even doing his taxes \u2014 says his family\u2019s connection to Levasseur runs deep. Edge\u2019s wife is a former Port St. Lucie officer who served with him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;ve known Eric better part of 25 years,\u201d Edge said. \u201cIt&#8217;s no surprise that he was probably the first one there, so he&#8217;s just, just all around good guy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Edge reflected on a 2012 photo of Sgt. Levasseur wearing a shirt honoring their mutual friend, Tommy Worthington, a St. Lucie County Sheriff\u2019s Office deputy who died from an autoimmune disease in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe and Eric were very close,\u201d Edge said.<\/p>\n<p>Now, Edge says Levasseur needs the same support he once showed others.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust say prayers. You know, it&#8217;s, it&#8217;s just say a lot of prayers,\u201d he said. \u201cIt&#8217;s going to be a long years of him getting better, but he&#8217;ll look back at this and be thankful for the support that he&#8217;s getting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. \u2014 A 27-year veteran of the Port St. Lucie Police Department remains in critical&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":{"0":"post-69287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}