Joseph "Joe" Swanson is a macho paraplegic police officer in the Quahog Police Department who is at many times subject to intense anger problems. He is married to Bonnie, and has two children, Kevin and Susie.
Biography
This paraplegic cop is the fourth member of the group of buddies (along with Peter, Cleveland, and Quagmire) who lives on Spooner Street. He met Peter when, after just moving into Quahog, the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory needed a final member for their company baseball team. Peter knew that Joe had won many awards for playing baseball in the past; he did not know that Joe was paralyzed below the waist. However, as he does most of the time, Joe proved that this wasn't enough to stop him and he led the team to victory. He lives at 33 Spooner Street with his wife, Bonnie and newborn daughter Susie.
Joe received his paralyzing injury one year at Christmas time. He was investigating a robbery at an orphanage (the perp turned out to be The Grinch) and slid off the roof on a roller skate, injuring his spine and leaving him unable to walk. He regained movement of his legs for a brief time, but his son, Kevin, accidentally ran into him, re-paralyzing him. In another episode, Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air, he can walk again again. However, everyone starts losing faith in Joe, and he paralyzes himself. However, his handicap (though he wouldn't call it that) doesn't prevent him from serving on the police force or choreographing local musicals.
Joe seems to have severe anger issues which often manifest in explosively violent outburst at random times throughout the show. A few notable examples of this are beating his son Kevin in a blind rage to the point Kevin had to live with a foster family, and shooting the left overs of his 16oz steak (then turning the gun on his friends) after being mocked for not being able to finish it. These outburst seem to stem from Joe's inability to cope with being handicapped and being mocked with the situations that stem from being so.
Joe is arguably the best hand to hand fighter in the entire show. Despite his condition, it has been seen on numerous occasions that he is able to completely overwhelm other characters who are accomplished fighters in their own right such as Lois Griffin (A Black Belt) and Peter (known for large violent battles with Ernie The Giant Chicken). Joe has also shown the ability to easily take on multiple enemies at once such as his encounter a large number of armed midgets in The Thin White Line and Peter, Quagmire, and Cleveland in Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air. In the episode Da Boom it is shown that despite the lower part of his body being melted into his driveway, Joe is perfectly able to fight and defeat a giant mutated rat.
He is the only person on Spooner Street who actually pays for his cable.
In the episode Dog Gone, Peter dropped off an unconscious Consuela on his front porch, needing more lemon pledge. Joe promises to get her more lemon pledge.
Relatives
- Bonnie Swanson (wife)
- Kevin Swanson (son) [deceased]
- Susie Swanson (daughter) [born in episode Ocean's Three and a Half]
Trivia
- Joe was paralyzed on Christmas Eve attempting to save gifts from being stolen by a character resembling the Grinch.
- He actually used his legs to kick a kid/midget in The Thin White Line. However, it is possible he swung his wheelchair so the legs hit the midgets.
- His legs moved involuntarily in The Juice Is Loose during the pillow fight scene.
- Joe forms the head of the Voltron-like Crippletron.
- In the episode Love Thy Trophy, he briefly stands unassisted as a continuity goof.
- In Three Kings Joe legs get hurt three times
- In "Stand By Me" his legs get run over by two trains,
- In "Misery" he gets shot in the legs (and then killed) by Stewie,
- In "The Shawshank Redemption" his legs were beaten by cops with nightsticks.
- In Peter's Progress, Joe is said to have been an octopus in a past life, and the octopus had its legs eaten off by a shark. Fortunately for the Octopus-Joe, the severed legs of an octopus can grow back, another reference to his legs.
- In Petergeist Joe has a home theater he calls Joe Swanson Theatres which sequence is a parody of Tri Star Pictures.
- Joe is one of the few (and most famous) cartoon paraplegics.
- In Brian the Bachelor he uses his leg to put out the flamed poo in a bag while smelling his legs he says "Dooty!" while Bonnie replies "Hang on Joe, I'm doing The dishes I'll change you in a minute".