Wounded Parsippany Native Regains Consciousness

The last time Paramus Police officer Rachel Morgan was fully conscious was Sunday. She ended the day hospital-bound, after a.

On Thursday, three surgeries later, the Parsippany native was conscious again.

"P.O. Morgan has a long road to recovery ahead of her, but for the first time since Sunday evening, we have a confident belief that she is going to pull through this and return to who she always was, a tough but ompassionate cop who thinks about serving others before herself," acting Chief Christopher Brock said in a statement Thursday.

Brock reported that Morgan is able to communicate by writing. In her first message to Brock after the shooting, she showed she was eager to get back on the road.

"Tell me I'm coming back to work," she said.

In the time she's spent at the hospital, Carmody, the man charged with trying to kill her and fellow officer Ryan Hayo, died, leaving a  that perhaps now only Morgan can answer.

In the time she's spent at the hospital, though she didn't know it, for any news of her recovery. Those in Parsippany recalled how she always , even when she was a teenager at Parsippany Hills High School.

In the time she's spent at the hospital, to meet her family, and her fellow first responders  in her name.

"I think when Chris [Brock] informed me this morning, he advised me that he was on cloud nine," Paramus Mayor Richard LaBarbiera said. "I think there's a lot of people up on cloud nine with him now."

Det. Michael Cebulski, the president of the local police union, said the force was "ecstatic" over the speed of her continuing recovery. It's not quite time to plan a visit, he said, as Morgan still has to get her strength back.

But it's a step, and if Morgan has any say, it's a step toward donning her badge again.

"Today is a great day," Brock said.