DOCKERY, EMERGED FROM COMALIKE STATE, AT AGE 43.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Gary Dockery Gary French Dockery (1954 - April 15, 1997), was a police officer in Walden, Tennessee who made world headlines after emerging from a 7½ year coma-like state and started talking enthusiastically, recognizing friends and recalling events from past years. was locked inside a mute mute (my  t), in music, device designed to diminish uniformly the loudness of a musical instrument. , motionless world for eight of his 43 years. The brain-damaged police officer broke through that silence just once: Last year, for several fleeting hours, he emerged from his comalike state and thrilled relatives with unbridled conversation, recalling camping trips, his green Jeep and the names of his horses, and telling his sons, 12 and 20, he loved them. On Tuesday, Dockery died. An autopsy was scheduled to determine the cause of death. In 1988, Dockery was shot point-blank by a drunk man angry at police for reprimanding him for making noise that bothered his neighbors. The officer fell into a stupor stupor /stu·por/ (stoo´per) [L.] 1. a lowered level of consciousness. 2. in psychiatry, a disorder marked by reduced responsiveness.stu´porous stu·por n. . Then, on Feb. 11, 1996, he stirred and started talking. Doctors couldn't explain it. And although he later grew more alert and was able to speak short phrases, Dockery returned largely to silence. On Tuesday, the paralyzed par·a·lyze tr.v. par·a·lyzed, par·a·lyz·ing, par·a·lyz·es 1. To affect with paralysis; cause to be paralytic. 2. To make unable to move or act: paralyzed by fear. officer, who had to be fed intravenously, was bathed and dressed as usual and was waiting his turn for physical therapy when something went wrong. Susan Showalter, a spokeswoman at the Alexian Village of Tennessee nursing home on Signal Mountain, about 10 miles from Chattanooga, said only that he was ``in distress.'' He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. ``I still had hopes we'd be able to help him,'' neurologist Neurologist A doctor who specializes in disorders of the brain and central nervous system. Mentioned in: Cervical Disk Disease neurologist a specialist in neurology. Bruce Kaplan said Tuesday. ``But his death may prove to be a relief for Gary and his family.'' |
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