KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City, Missouri, police officer who was shot in the head on July 2 may not have survived if it hadn’t been for the quick actions of his colleagues, doctors at Truman Medical Center said Thursday.
The doctors, who were part of the officer’s care team, and KCPD representatives conducted a virtual news conference to celebrate the officer's discharge earlier Thursday from the hospital.
The officer — a two-year KCPD veteran, who has not been identified out of respect for the family and his privacy — is being transferred to an out-of-state facility for further treatment and rehabilitation.
The neurosurgeon who operated on the officer, Dr. John Gianino, said he is pleased with the officer’s recovery up to this point and is hopeful he “gets back to a fairly normal life.”
“Much to my surprise, he is getting a lot of strength back …," Gianino said. "In fact, today he was able to squeeze my hand with his left hand. I have all the hope in the world that he’s going to have a really, really good recovery.”
Dr. Michael Moncure, who was the first trauma surgeon to see the wounded officer, said his outlook would not be good, or he may not have even survived, if it weren’t for his colleagues.
KCPD said a supervisor and two officers responded quickly to the scene and transported the officer to the hospital themselves, rather waiting for EMS personnel to arrive.
“Given five more minutes, he would have not had a good outcome at all, and probably would not have survived, but his colleagues brought him in very rapidly to the trauma bay,” Moncure said.
Dr. Dustin Neel was in charge of the officer’s critical care management during his stay at Truman Medical Center. He said they are “ecstatic at the progress this young officer has made.”
“We’re most excited about his thumbs up on the way out,” Neel said, describing to moment the officer left the hospital.
The doctors said the chance of survival from this type of injury is less than 1%, let alone with a good outcome.
KCPD Public Information Officer Doaa El-Ashkar read a letter from the officer’s family, which thanked the doctors and staff at Truman Medical Center.
“Thank you, seems not enough for a life, but we would like to thank all the staff at the hospital from the bottom of our hearts for the care, compassion, dedication to their callings and everything that was done to make this outcome possible,” the letter read. “Every single person, from the women who kept things clean for us, to the security personnel who greeted us with smiles each morning, to the administration, to the therapists and to all the doctors and nurses who used their superior professional abilities, we say thank you.”
The family also thanked KCPD and the Kansas City community for their support in the letter.
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