DamienF in hospital

Get Well Soon seems so inadequate at times, but I sincerely mean it.

Like Bryce , I know Damien IRL (helped him wire his house back in the day), although we have not talked for a couple of years. Thoughts and prayers for a speedy and full recovery is a very trite statement, but like Jason Pace, one I sincerely mean.

Let us know if we can do anything.

Genuinely nice guy and good person, this is horrible thing.

Awful and a tragedy. Here's hoping he makes a full recovery.

I can't find anything in the local paper's site, or today's hardcopy, which does list some crimes from Thursday.

Yeah, Damien is one of the good guys. Sending along my own inadequate thoughts and prayers for a full and speedy recovery.

Anders Hallin, you'll keep an eye on his FB page for us, right?

This is fucked. :( Hoping for a quick recovery.

Reposting from Qt3 -

Hopefully he will be able to tell the tale himself soon.

That is what I was so very afraid of. While the entire Knox/Henderson area is relatively upscale these days (in comparison), Greenville and Ross is the exact intersection that the city has been trying so desperately to gain control over for the last few years. IIRC, bars within a certain distance are required to close early and can only stay open until midnight if they pay for an additional permit; only so many of those permits are handed out; the police have a near-permanent presence (including a retail precinct location) in the area. It's just a damned mess. Being Thirsty Thursday probably didn't help the mood of the mixed crowd in the area, either.

How is it that this doesn't seem to be a news item (just going by my weak google-fu)? Has there been any local coverage?

I found the police report, but that's about it. It's classified as "accidental injury" rather than assault, so that might be why it hasn't gained any traction yet.

Latest update on FB from a friend of Damien's:

It's sort of a news item, in the way that Wicker Park being notoriously dangerous prior to the mid-00s was a sort of news item, but you have to read Unfair Park to get even the slightest of details about it. Dallas is a weird city in that nobody wants to air any dirty laundry, especially not the news media. I have a friend who graduated from UNT's journalism grad program and was doing some very deep investigative journalism into some of the homeless shelter / drug rehab practices and how they are funded by the city and, despite having full backing from two of the city's top veteran investigative journalists, the Village Voice owned weekly wouldn't run it, effectively killing its chances of ever being published. Then, the editor of Unfair Park was poached by the right-wing Dallas Morning News. So, there you go.

To bring this back to Damien, there is a 24hr Wal-Greens, as well as a U-Haul, at that intersection and both have parking lot cameras that might have caught something. There is also a 24hr (iirc) McDonald's, you never know, the employees might have seen something going on. There's a taco shop right on that corner called Tacos Y Mas, but I think they close at midnight. They might still have been closing shop when whatever happened happened, though. I hope the police are doing their best to find out what happened, but sometimes little stuff like this can help.

Just now from FB. Yeah totally sounds "accidental".

Don't tell him who won the Heisman, he's a Longhorn not an Aggie (unless maybe upsetting him would help).

There's also Ship's Lounge, which was scummy 20 years ago and I don't think it's any better now.

Are you in Dallas now, Bryce?

This is so sad, terrible, and enraging. Sure hope Damien pulls through this okay.

Damn it. I really, really hope he pulls through this okay. It sounds like they must be seriously worried about the swelling of his brain if they're keeping him in a medically induced coma. Fuck me. God, I hope he'll be alright.

Wishing the best to Damien and his friends and family.

Man, this is horrible. Hang in there, Damien...

Out of town and just hearing this news. This sucks. Unless they think he got hit by a car or something, I have no idea why this would be labeled an accident, but I guess more details will come out eventually...hopefully. The main thing is getting Damien well, obviously. All our thoughts are with him.

Missed this thread before but I hope Damien has a speedy recovery.

Just for clarification, the details of the police report said that it was likely assault, it's just not how it's categorized at the moment. It's mainly a difference in how the report shows up in the police record search engine vs. what the report actually says in the narrative.

ETA: I'll PM the report to anyone who wants it and can't find it, but I'm not sure about posting it here since it contains what I assume is his home address.

Just caught up with this news on another forum and came here to post my sincere best wishes for a full recovery. I don't know Damien personally, but have enjoyed his posts on multiple forums we both belonged to through the years and have always had the impression that he is a geniunely good guy who goes out of his way to help other people when he's able. My thoughts are with his family.

I can't believe that nobody saw anything and this is being classified "accidental". You don't accidentally end up in a coma bleeding from your brain on a streetcorner at 1:00am in the bar district. Even if he was accidentally hit be a car or something it's still technically an assault since the driver didn't stick around or report it. If it was a bar fight, someone is looking at felonious assault at the very least. Police should be a whole lot more interested in this than the family updates seem to indicate. Anyone in Dallas know if there has been any news coverage of this at all?

Thanks to those keeping us posted here. I really hope he'll be okay.

I don't have much to add besides my own well-wishes. Hopefully this collective amnesia in and around the area of the incident wears off soon.

You're in my thoughts, Damien!

My prayers are with Damien and his family too. Get well soon man!

An update from Lunch of Kong over at Qt3 -

His sister writes:
Quote:

I am going to chose to go with hopeful as well. Rooting for you like a mother fucker Damien.

Thanks for keeping the thread up to date, BJ!

After finding nothing that can express my hope Damien makes a full recovery I will be useless and just wish him the best.

From experience (although not quite to that extent) - the injuries described are recoverable. Obviously we don't know what the extent of possible MTBI was incurred, but fractured skulls can heal up pretty well since there aren't many moving parts to them.

Oh, man. Just saw all this, and my prayers are with Damien. May he recover fully, and may the attackers be brought to justice.

Another post on Facebook:

If someone knows how to address get-well cards to him while at the hospital, that would be nice to know. Otherwise I'll call and ask during Texas daytime.

Some of his kickball friends have set up a fundraiser for hospital bills, whatever they may end up being, and are holding a charity kickball game on Sunday.

Anders, thank you so much for the information about the fundraiser.

Wow, just caught this too. Uh, here's hoping for a full recovery.

I've not heard/seen any evidence of an attack, other than Damien's injuries*, which could conceivably have been caused by a hit and run or misadventure. Has this been confirmed as an assault?


*and what folks here and over at Qt3 are saying about the area he was found.

No one will know exactly what happened until he's conscious and able to speak. The nature of his injuries makes a hit and run seem unlikely, though. Cars don't typically hit people in the face.

He was checked for a broken neck (which he doesn't have, thank goodness) and the one police report anyone has mentioned lists the cause as "accidental". I'm not discounting assault at all, just mentioning, as you note, that we won't know for certain what happened until Damien tells us.