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Tim McCarthy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Timothy J. McCarthy | |
|---|---|
 Tim McCarthy after taking a bullet for President Reagan |
|
| Born | 1949 |
| Occupation | Secret Service agent Chief of police |
| Children | 3 |
Timothy J. McCarthy (born c. 1949) is the police chief of Orland Park, Illinois but is most famous for leaping in front of US President Ronald Reagan to stop one of John Hinckley, Jr.'s .22 caliber bullets on March 30, 1981 (see Reagan assassination attempt for details). Surgeons at George Washington University Hospital successfully removed the round from McCarthy's chest, and he fully recovered. McCarthy received the NCAA Award of Valor in 1982 in recognition of his bravery.
Although all Secret Service agents are trained to "take a bullet for the President," McCarthy has been the only agent to date who has done so.[citation needed]
He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1971 with a Bachelors of Science degree in Finance and joined the United States Secret Service shortly thereafter.
His career included eight years assigned to the Presidential Protective Division in Washington D.C. and fourteen years as a criminal investigator in Chicago. McCarthy was the Special Agent in Charge of the Secret Service Chicago Division from 1989 until his retirement in October 1993.
McCarthy has served as Chief of the Orland Park Police Department since May of 1994 and in 1998 unsuccessfully ran for Illinois secretary of state as a Democrat. Chief McCarthy earned a Masters Degree in Criminal/Social Justice from Lewis University in 1999.
He is married and has three children.