Wife Thanks Doctors As Trooper Goes Home After Shooting
May 22, 2019, 6:26 PM | Updated: Jun 8, 2022, 5:06 pm
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana Highway Patrol trooper who suffered a traumatic brain injury after being shot three times was released Wednesday from a Utah hospital after his wife gave emotional thanks to the medical team and supporters.
Trooper Wade Palmer, 35, was wounded in the neck, face and head on March 15 while investigating a shooting in Missoula a few hours earlier that killed one person and wounded two others.
Palmer was shot after locating a suspect’s vehicle near a bar.
Lindsey Palmer said she and her husband were excited to return home to their two children and expressed her appreciation for the compassionate care of the hospital staff at University of Utah Health in Salt Lake City.
“You gave us the fighting chance we needed to get through this,” she said before they flew back to Montana.Dr. Ramesh Grandhi, who is Wade Palmer’s neurosurgeon, told The Associated Press that Palmer suffered a severe injury to the left side of his brain, which controls speech for right-handed people.
Two months after being shot three times in his head, #Montana State Trooper Wade Palmer left @UofUHealth to go back home today. He also had a little surprise for those who saw him off. We’ll show it to you on @KSL5TV tonight at 5. #ksltv pic.twitter.com/dD0U1H5ajR
— Alex Cabrero (@KSL_AlexCabrero) May 22, 2019
Palmer isn’t able to speak but often seems to understand what is being said. The doctor said Palmer still has a lot of work ahead and he couldn’t give a prognosis for long-term recovery or predict if he will regain his speech.
“That is something that’s exceedingly hard to do in terms of patients with severe traumatic brain injuries,” Grandhi said. “There are patients that keep getting better years out, especially if they have good support and good rehabilitation.”
Palmer is wearing a helmet to protect his head.
The leader of the highway patrol, Col. Tom Butler, and Montana Attorney General Tim Fox accompanied Palmer and his wife as they traveled to Missoula.
Here is motorcade of @UTHighwayPatrol and @UofUPolice welcoming Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Wade Palmer and his wife Lindsey. There will be brief comments during the press conference. Trooper Palmer will not be a part of the conference but his wife will say some things. #KSLTV pic.twitter.com/hoR3k28KNP
— Alex Cabrero (@KSL_AlexCabrero) May 22, 2019
A long line of law-enforcement vehicles met them at the airport and escorted them through Missoula as they headed to their Stevensville home.
Defendant Johnathan Bertsch has pleaded not guilty to charges of deliberate homicide and attempted deliberate homicide in the two shootings.
He is accused of following a pickup truck from a Missoula bar, flashing his lights at the vehicle and then opening fire on its occupants when they stopped to help what they thought was a driver having engine trouble, prosecutors say.
That shooting prompted a manhunt during which Palmer found Bertsch’s vehicle on U.S. Highway 93 about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the shooting, authorities said.
In his last communication with radio dispatchers, Palmer reported he was under fire. A responding trooper found him wounded and still wearing his seat belt in his patrol car.
