Arnold "Butch" Amthor -- who serves as chief of both the Village of Maybrook and the Town of Montgomery in Orange County -- tried to arrest a man who barricaded himself in an apartment.
Just one minute after Amthor and other officers entered the apartment, the suspect opened fire.
"I just saw an arm come up," Amthor said in an exclusive interview with Eyewitness News. "I heard the shot, I saw it coming and I woke up on the floor."
Amthor was able to go down three flights of stairs and was rushed to the hospital. The .45 caliber slug was lodged in his shoulder blade -- it missed an artery by just an eighth of an inch.
"I'm very lucky and blessed," Amthor said.
The entire ordeal was captured by a police bodycam. Watch the full video here:
Bodycam in Maybrook police shooting
Last week, the chief underwent surgery to have the bullet removed. The twisted metal is now a grim souvenir on his desk.
"You could actually feel it protruding from my bone very easily," Amthor said. "You could touch it."
The suspect in the ordeal -- Anthony Bostick-- killed himself in the standoff, but the case will be presented to a grand jury.
Amthor said he's just glad to be back to work.
"It never entered into my mind into my mind not to go back to work," Amthor said. "Mentally, I knew I would go back as soon as I was able. I was really out only four weeks."