Tribute to Trooper Bobby Kintzel

Friends and Well Wishers Patch Together A Quilt

Trooper Bobby Kintzel was critically injured on April 21 when a 40-minute police pursuit ended shortly after a stolen sport utility vehicle slammed into the trooper at an estimated 90 mph.

Trooper Bobby left UMC Trauma Center on June 12th and continues his miraculous recovery at Health South Rehabilitation Hospital of Las Vegas.

Nye County Sheriff's Deputy Norm Stahl is the man behind the plan to use patches in a quilt as a tribute to Trooper Kintzel.  Deputy Stahl spoke to the trooper's mother (Juanita Kuhn) for permission before going public with his plan.

Deputy Stahl says, "I have received an overwhelming request from all walks of life to get involved with the quilt.  Therefore I would like to request that any one wishing to send a patch to be sewn on the quilt, no matter what the agency, division, profession, or country, please do so."

Send patches to:
Deputy Norm Stahl
1821 W. Janet Lane
Pahrump, Nevada 89060

Get daily condition updates or sign the guest book at
www.caringbridge.com/nv/bobby
Background:
Thursday, July 05, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Hospitalized trooper makes progress, undergoes therapy
Kintzel using signals, able to say some words


By J.M. KALIL REVIEW-JOURNAL
http://12.9.217.5/lvrj_home/help_about/rjstaff_email.html
A lawman who was comatose for weeks after suffering life-threatening injuries in the line of duty is recovering faster than doctors expected, Nevada Highway Patrol officials report.
Bobby Kintzel, the trooper struck about 11 weeks ago by a sport utility vehicle traveling an estimated 90 mph, had his tracheostomy tube removed this week and is now able to speak and sit upright.
Kintzel, 30, suffered a fractured pelvis and skull, a severe brain injury and internal bleeding in the April 21 incident on U.S. Highway 95 near Flamingo Road.
A few days later, surgeons removed a portion of his brain that had died. He spent about two months in University Medical Center's Intensive Care Unit, a stay during most of which he lay unresponsive, breathing only with the aid
of life-support machines. But now, the trooper is undergoing physical, occupational and speech therapy
at Health South Rehabilitation Hospital, 1250 S. Valley View Boulevard, where doctors transferred him last month.
He recently began using head and hand signals to communicate, and after the throat operation Monday, Kintzel is able to say some words, said trooper Alan Davidson, a spokesman for the Highway Patrol.
After recent increases in energy and strength, Kintzel is able to move parts of his right side, which were temporarily paralyzed by his injuries and medications, Davidson said. Kintzel -- a six-year highway patrolman, Persian Gulf War veteran and Valley High School graduate -- was laying tire-piercing spikes across the highway to end a 40-minute high-speed chase when a fleeing sport utility vehicle smashed and flung him against his patrol cruiser, police said. Vornelius Phillips faces an attempted murder charge in connection with the incident. Also, prosecutors have charged Phillips, 25, with murder, kidnapping, robbery and several other felony counts in connection with the
slaying of a prostitute and events in the chase. Colleagues who saw the accident were amazed Kintzel survived. Now they are surprised at his rate of recovery.
"He's having a hard time, and he's still got a ways to go, but the doctors say he's ahead of schedule," Davidson said. "It's pretty amazing." Davidson and Kintzel's family report the trooper, who is known for his stubbornness, appears to be frustrated by the strenuous therapy he is performing to relearn everyday tasks.
"He occasionally yells at things he doesn't like, but that's Bobby," Davidson said.
Friends, family members and co-workers have been playing checkers with the trooper over the last week.
They said his speed in mentally processing moves in the board game is increasing. He also enjoys thumb- and arm-wrestling with visitors, Davidson said.
The trooper's plight has triggered sympathy from fellow law enforcers across the U.S. and in Europe and Australia. More than a thousand well-wishers have left encouraging messages to Kintzel on a Web site where the trooper's
mother posts daily updates on his condition. By Tuesday, the site had nearly 32,000 hits.


Lynette Taylor
Sr. Technical Writer