March 15--KNOXVILLE -- A critically injured state trooper is fighting fatigue and fever and has been placed back on a ventilator after a rough night at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, according to relatives.
Tennessee Highway Patrol Sgt. Lowell Russell has been in critical condition at the hospital since he was pulled Tuesday morning unconscious from his crumpled and burning cruiser on Interstate 40.
Russell's family is keeping the public updated on his condition through a "Prayers for Lowell Russell" site on Facebook.
Relatives noted the 39-year-old Russell took a turn for the worse through the night and was unresponsive. A quick CT scan showed no new damage, the posting noted before midnight Wednesday, and doctors attributed his unresponsiveness to fatigue.
At 9 a.m., relatives posted that Russell was back on the ventilator this morning in hopes of giving his body a rest. Doctors had tried to wean Russell from the ventilator Tuesday night and during the day Wednesday.
Relatives this morning said Russell was fighting a fever and doctors had ordered a special treatment for him in hopes of cooling his body temperature.
Doctors also implanted a device in Russell's head to measure pressure on his brain. The 14-year veteran of the Highway Patrol sustained a head injury in the wreck that caused his brain to swell.
Because of Russell's weakened state, relatives said he will have no visitors today.
Russell was injured as he sat in his cruiser on the shoulder of westbound I-40 near the Walker Springs Road interchange. He was completing paperwork on a traffic stop when a flatbed rig slammed into the cruiser, shoving it across three lanes of traffic and into the concrete median wall.
The cruiser burst into flames. An ambulance crew from McMinn County that happened upon the crash, along with the truck driver and an officer with the Knoxville Police Department cut Russell free from his seat belt and pulled him from the burning cruiser.
The trucker, Eric D. Lewis, 32, of Orlando, Fla., was not injured. According to the Highway Patrol, Lewis told investigators he fell asleep at the wheel.
Authorities arrested Lewis and charged him with aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.
Copyright 2012 - The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.
