Paralysed by an ex-boyfriend, Otto rises as Paralympian

In September 2019, Otto collapsed up pinch a boyfriend. A period previously, he had been arrested for attacking her astatine their location successful Riverview, Florida.

Otto was fresh to move connected pinch her life, and had met personification new.

“I had conscionable started talking to Ricky,” she told the BBC World Service’s Sportshour programme. “We met connected 26 September 2019, and we went connected a mates of dates.

"I had surgery up pinch my ex, kicked him out, told him to leave, he gathered each of his things, he was gone and I had changed each of nan locks connected my house. Everything was done.

“That nighttime it was 24 October 2019, we had different small date, and we spell disconnected to bed. I retrieve rolling complete and getting comfortable successful furniture and drifting disconnected to sleep.

“And past each of a sudden, I perceive this large sound and I spot a flashlight successful my look and I was truthful confused.

"And past I heard his voice, and I realised it was my ex.

“He had parked his car astatine nan beforehand of my house, went astir nan backmost of nan location and looked done my chamber window. We were sleeping, and he had decided to spell to acquisition a high-powered pellet gun.

"He did nan champion that he could to get arsenic adjacent to a existent weapon arsenic possible. And a weapon and a group of handcuffs.

“And he comes backmost to my house, breaks successful and wakes america up, screaming astatine america to get retired of bed.

"He tells america that he’s going to termination america and that if he didn’t termination himself, he was going to telephone nan police.

"So, he outright told america what he was going to do. This is wherever everything gets benignant of blurry because it happened truthful quickly. I tin show you what I cognize happened, I conscionable don’t person it first manus because my encephalon conscionable benignant of blocked everything out.”

The attacker punched Otto aggregate times earlier shooting Riessle doubly successful nan look and stabbing him successful nan back, causing his lung to collapse.

He past changeable Otto done nan near eye, earlier stabbing her successful nan backmost of nan neck, leaving her paralysed. He past sexually assaulted her.

“And he ends up calling nan constabulary connected himself and tells them that ‘this is my name, ‘this is wherever I’m at’. He calls maine his girlfriend, but past later admits to nan constabulary that we had surgery up,” Otto says.

“And he was like, 'I conscionable killed my woman and her caller boyfriend'. They show up, he’s sitting successful nan driveway, and he gets taken away.”

In January 2023, nan ex-boyfriend pleaded blameworthy to 2 counts of burglary pinch assault, 2 counts of attempted execution successful nan first degree, 1 count of intersexual artillery and 2 counts of aggravated bodily harm.

He was sentenced to 40 years successful jail.