Gary Dockery
{{Short description|American coma patient}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}
Gary French Dockery (October 15, 1953 – April 15, 1997) was an American police officer in Walden, Tennessee. After being critically injured in 1988, he spent seven and a half years in a coma-like state. In 1996, he emerged from the coma and started talking enthusiastically, recognizing friends and recalling events from past years. He then fell back into a coma and died a year later.
Biography
On September 17, 1988, Dockery was shot in the forehead by a drunken assailant as he responded to a domestic disturbance call. His shooter, Samuel Frank Downey, then aged 68, had made the call falsely reporting a disturbance and then shot Dockery at point blank range. He later told police that he had wanted revenge against the police for reprimanding him about noise following a noise complaint from his neighbors. Downey was sentenced to 37 years in prison. Dockery slipped into what doctors called a persistent vegetative state, unable to communicate except with occasional eye blinks and groans, indicating that part of his brain was still working. Although he could respond, he was not conscious.{{Cite magazine |date=December 8, 2008 |title=Top 10 Comas |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1864940_1864939_1864914,00.html |access-date=April 4, 2021 |issn=0040-781X}}Williams, Michelle (February 15, 1996). [https://apnews.com/article/9b9637e5170c81373bd5efd266aaad36 "Comatose Officer Speaks After 7 1/2 Years, But Family's Joy Shortlived"]. AP News.
On Monday, February 12, 1996, Dockery stirred and started talking, recognizing old friends, recalling the names of his horses, and recalling camping trips.{{Cite news |last=Smothers |first=Ronald |date=February 16, 1996 |title=Injured in '88, Officer Awakes in '96 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/16/us/injured-in-88-officer-awakes-in-96.html |access-date=August 6, 2020 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news |date=February 17, 1996 |title=Ex-Officer Is Alert After Surgery but Not Talking Again |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/17/us/ex-officer-is-alert-after-surgery-but-not-talking-again.html |access-date=April 4, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}} He spoke less on Tuesday, and not at all the following day.
Four days after he began talking, Dockery underwent lung surgery due to a life-threatening infection. On April 15, 1997, he died at the age of 43 from a blood clot in his lung. Dockery was transported from his nursing home to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he was pronounced dead at 9:52 a.m.{{Cite news |author=The Associated Press |date=April 15, 1997 |title=Brain-damaged policeman who emerged from comalike state dies |language=en-US |work=The Associated Press |url=https://apnews.com/article/8faca82c82e16c2f1b38d17c20bda788 |access-date=April 4, 2021}}
References
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