Lou Pimber is Two Hearts One Badge’s latest Officer Spotlight feature. Two Hearts One Badge provides unique, beautifully crafted jewelry specifically designed for the law enforcement and first responder community. And their choice is once again spot on with Lou Pimber.
About Lou Pimber
After serving in the military for several years in the 1990s, Lou pursued a career in law enforcement. He was a young and ambitious man, and it didn’t take long for him to end up on the force.
His passion to serve his community was quickly noticed by his superiors, who saw raw talent in him. And they acted on it by assigning him to the challenging role of an undercover officer, where he thrived.
Lou was well on his way to building a long and brilliant career in law enforcement. But his dreams were cut short after he was viciously attacked during an undercover operation.
During the operation, Lou waited for the SWAT team to arrive on the scene to arrest the suspects on narcotics charges. Since he was undercover, Lou played the role of a suspect and, as per the script, surrendered to the arriving SWAT team, who were to handcuff and escort him away in order to not let the real suspects know he was an officer himself.
However, while Lou was on the ground in handcuffs waiting to be escorted, the arresting officer unexpectedly viciously attacked him for what seemed like an eternity, leaving him bloodied and severely beaten. It is still unclear as to why the officer attacked Lou. But one thing is certain, the officer knew Lou and knew he was undercover.
The attacker represented that small fraction of the law enforcement community who tarnished the badge, had gone corrupt, and brought shame to the profession.
After that incident, Lou was forced to medically retire, never found justice, and suffered from mental health issues stemming from traumatic brain injury, also known as TBI.
But he never gave up.
Lou fought out of a dark hole, pursued acting and entrepreneurship, and once again became successful. He recently authored a book, Breaking Badly, a play on words originating from his role in the hit television series Breaking Bad.
He now advocates for law enforcement and mental health because he’s been there and knows how important mental health is to police.
Law Enforcement Today sat down with Lou to discuss his harrowing life journey, starting with why he was attacked in the first place. However, he could only provide a theory from a pre-undercover brief involving Lou and SWAT team members.
“I told the SWAT guy and said, ‘Listen, when you come after him [suspect] come out in a Crescent shape or Half Moon shape to trap him.’” Lou said. “This guy was pretty dangerous, and these guys didn't take very well to anyone giving [cops] any kind of tips or advice, those type of people. And I knew that, but I gave it anyway because it was important, right? And I did in a very public setting.”
The SWAT team didn’t heed Lou’s advice, and the suspect fled the scene and got away. Lou feels there was animosity built up after that incident that never sat well with the officer who later assaulted him.
The Injuries
Lou suffered significant injuries that still resonate with him today, many years later. At first, the injuries seemed superficial. But it was anything but that.
“Nose busted, chin split, bleeding inside of my mouth, bleeding from my face, my ear was draining fluid stuff like that, and then just blood everywhere,” Lou said. “My jaw was, it kind of went from here to, like, way over here. So initially, it was a permanently dislocated jaw, a permanently damaged inner ear, and it was injuries to the neck and arm.”
Those were the initial injuries.
Lou later experienced other symptoms, days and weeks after the assault.
“Then it was the headaches – chronic. And then it was the pain, and it felt like someone was taking nails and just hammering them into my ear. My jaw here, just the pain was horrible,” Lou said.
And with pain comes medication to treat and minimize it. Lou was prescribed a cocktail of drugs that conflicted with his emotional state and led to even more difficulty.
“Then it turned into all these pills I was being given. Then it went into the lack of sleep or sleeping too much, drinking too much, and taking too many pills. They just turned into a mess because now you have this cocktail of medications plus all this emotional distress, all this anger,” he said.
Lou dealt with the complications of medication and negative behaviors for several years but managed to eventually pull himself out of it.
But it wasn’t easy.
“So it was four years of having to go to doctors, neurologists, speech therapists, pain management, drinking too much, and then just all that shit,” Lou said.
Another symptom of his TBI was not knowing where he was.
“I would get lost. I would get lost in the city that I pretty much grew up in. I would drive with the family from Tucson to Las Vegas, and I got lost. From Arizona to Las Vegas, I got lost. My wife was like, ‘How did you not know to take this exit right here?’ I'm like, 'I don't know,'” Lou said.
“And there were times when I would pull over just frustrated, man, and angry like, ‘How the hell do I not know where I'm going right now?'” he said.
The Recovery
He went from living in a high-speed, dangerous, adrenaline-fueled undercover life to a complete standstill. The recovery took time and was a slow, steady progress.
The main component of his recovery was simply reading. And it got him back on track.
“So I started reading and I just picked up Donald Trump books, Rob Kiyosaki books, stuff like that. And by virtue of doing that, it opened up my mind to other things like business ownership, entrepreneurship, and the business world, developing real estate, that sort of thing,” Lou said.
He also finds relief in exercising and running and recommends it to everyone. Staying physically active has numerous health benefits, including mental health.
Lou freely admits he went through several phases after the attack. A grieving phase (grieving the loss of his career), anger, depression, even suicidal thoughts, and eventually a revenge phase.
The thought of seeking revenge frequently crossed his mind. But he chose a different path, a safer, healing path.
“I wanted to shoot him, but I didn’t. I’m glad I didn’t because that’s all I would have been known for. I had it all planned out,” Lou said. “And unfortunately, when your mind sits in those places of revenge, suicide, stuff like that, the devil loves that shit. But you can’t sit there too long.”
Lou later ran into his attacker one morning while running errands. But by then he was in a much better place personally and emotionally and had chosen not to seek revenge. He, instead, used the power of forgiveness.
“I had to verbally say it to myself several times that I forgive you,” Lou said.
A Success Story
Lou’s story is one of success, tragedy, and overcoming adversity. He went on to find several high-profile acting roles, most notably his role as a cartel member in the hit series Breaking Bad.
The same determination and ambition that landed him in an undercover police officer role also led him to pursue entrepreneurship.
And he is thriving.
But he still wants to serve the community.
“I like speaking to groups, like police organizations, police foundations, companies in general, and sharing elements of my story and how it is that is actually more common than people believe,” Lou said. “I want to be able to get in front of people and share my story and then share how it is that I had to come out of this.”
And he did. But he’s just getting started.
To learn all about Lou Pimber, visit his website, www.LouPimber.com, and check out his book Breaking Badly on Amazon.
About Lou Pimber
After serving in the military for several years in the 1990s, Lou pursued a career in law enforcement. He was a young and ambitious man, and it didn’t take long for him to end up on the force.
His passion to serve his community was quickly noticed by his superiors, who saw raw talent in him. And they acted on it by assigning him to the challenging role of an undercover officer, where he thrived.
Lou was well on his way to building a long and brilliant career in law enforcement. But his dreams were cut short after he was viciously attacked during an undercover operation.
During the operation, Lou waited for the SWAT team to arrive on the scene to arrest the suspects on narcotics charges. Since he was undercover, Lou played the role of a suspect and, as per the script, surrendered to the arriving SWAT team, who were to handcuff and escort him away in order to not let the real suspects know he was an officer himself.
However, while Lou was on the ground in handcuffs waiting to be escorted, the arresting officer unexpectedly viciously attacked him for what seemed like an eternity, leaving him bloodied and severely beaten. It is still unclear as to why the officer attacked Lou. But one thing is certain, the officer knew Lou and knew he was undercover.
The attacker represented that small fraction of the law enforcement community who tarnished the badge, had gone corrupt, and brought shame to the profession.
After that incident, Lou was forced to medically retire, never found justice, and suffered from mental health issues stemming from traumatic brain injury, also known as TBI.
But he never gave up.
Lou fought out of a dark hole, pursued acting and entrepreneurship, and once again became successful. He recently authored a book, Breaking Badly, a play on words originating from his role in the hit television series Breaking Bad.
He now advocates for law enforcement and mental health because he’s been there and knows how important mental health is to police.
Law Enforcement Today sat down with Lou to discuss his harrowing life journey, starting with why he was attacked in the first place. However, he could only provide a theory from a pre-undercover brief involving Lou and SWAT team members.
“I told the SWAT guy and said, ‘Listen, when you come after him [suspect] come out in a Crescent shape or Half Moon shape to trap him.’” Lou said. “This guy was pretty dangerous, and these guys didn't take very well to anyone giving [cops] any kind of tips or advice, those type of people. And I knew that, but I gave it anyway because it was important, right? And I did in a very public setting.”
The SWAT team didn’t heed Lou’s advice, and the suspect fled the scene and got away. Lou feels there was animosity built up after that incident that never sat well with the officer who later assaulted him.
The Injuries
Lou suffered significant injuries that still resonate with him today, many years later. At first, the injuries seemed superficial. But it was anything but that.
“Nose busted, chin split, bleeding inside of my mouth, bleeding from my face, my ear was draining fluid stuff like that, and then just blood everywhere,” Lou said. “My jaw was, it kind of went from here to, like, way over here. So initially, it was a permanently dislocated jaw, a permanently damaged inner ear, and it was injuries to the neck and arm.”
Those were the initial injuries.
Lou later experienced other symptoms, days and weeks after the assault.
“Then it was the headaches – chronic. And then it was the pain, and it felt like someone was taking nails and just hammering them into my ear. My jaw here, just the pain was horrible,” Lou said.
And with pain comes medication to treat and minimize it. Lou was prescribed a cocktail of drugs that conflicted with his emotional state and led to even more difficulty.
“Then it turned into all these pills I was being given. Then it went into the lack of sleep or sleeping too much, drinking too much, and taking too many pills. They just turned into a mess because now you have this cocktail of medications plus all this emotional distress, all this anger,” he said.
Lou dealt with the complications of medication and negative behaviors for several years but managed to eventually pull himself out of it.
But it wasn’t easy.
“So it was four years of having to go to doctors, neurologists, speech therapists, pain management, drinking too much, and then just all that shit,” Lou said.
Another symptom of his TBI was not knowing where he was.
“I would get lost. I would get lost in the city that I pretty much grew up in. I would drive with the family from Tucson to Las Vegas, and I got lost. From Arizona to Las Vegas, I got lost. My wife was like, ‘How did you not know to take this exit right here?’ I'm like, 'I don't know,'” Lou said.
“And there were times when I would pull over just frustrated, man, and angry like, ‘How the hell do I not know where I'm going right now?'” he said.
The Recovery
He went from living in a high-speed, dangerous, adrenaline-fueled undercover life to a complete standstill. The recovery took time and was a slow, steady progress.
The main component of his recovery was simply reading. And it got him back on track.
“So I started reading and I just picked up Donald Trump books, Rob Kiyosaki books, stuff like that. And by virtue of doing that, it opened up my mind to other things like business ownership, entrepreneurship, and the business world, developing real estate, that sort of thing,” Lou said.
He also finds relief in exercising and running and recommends it to everyone. Staying physically active has numerous health benefits, including mental health.
Lou freely admits he went through several phases after the attack. A grieving phase (grieving the loss of his career), anger, depression, even suicidal thoughts, and eventually a revenge phase.
The thought of seeking revenge frequently crossed his mind. But he chose a different path, a safer, healing path.
“I wanted to shoot him, but I didn’t. I’m glad I didn’t because that’s all I would have been known for. I had it all planned out,” Lou said. “And unfortunately, when your mind sits in those places of revenge, suicide, stuff like that, the devil loves that shit. But you can’t sit there too long.”
Lou later ran into his attacker one morning while running errands. But by then he was in a much better place personally and emotionally and had chosen not to seek revenge. He, instead, used the power of forgiveness.
“I had to verbally say it to myself several times that I forgive you,” Lou said.
A Success Story
Lou’s story is one of success, tragedy, and overcoming adversity. He went on to find several high-profile acting roles, most notably his role as a cartel member in the hit series Breaking Bad.
The same determination and ambition that landed him in an undercover police officer role also led him to pursue entrepreneurship.
And he is thriving.
But he still wants to serve the community.
“I like speaking to groups, like police organizations, police foundations, companies in general, and sharing elements of my story and how it is that is actually more common than people believe,” Lou said. “I want to be able to get in front of people and share my story and then share how it is that I had to come out of this.”
And he did. But he’s just getting started.
To learn all about Lou Pimber, visit his website, www.LouPimber.com, and check out his book Breaking Badly on Amazon.
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The opinions reflected in this article are not necessarily the opinions of LET
