A wall of hundreds of police officers lined up at Stony Brook University Hospital as Suffolk County Police Officer Timothy Thrane was led out on a gurney, released after being injured a month ago by an alleged drunken driver.
Bagpipes played “God Bless America” as Thrane, 35, was escorted to a waiting ambulance to be taken to St. Charles Hospital for rehabilitation therapy, where doctors say he must learn to walk again and feed himself. Doctors said he could be home by Christmas.
Even through weeks of fighting for his life in a medically induced coma in critical condition, Thrane has made a full neurological recovery, his doctor said.
“When he awoke from the coma, Tim was still Tim,” Dr. James Vosswinkel, the chief of trauma surgery at Stony Brook, said.
As he was wheeled out on a gurney, Thrane said “I feel great.”
“It’s overwhelming, the support I got the whole time,” Thrane said. “That’s the longest I’ve ever not seen my kids.”
His family greeted him with flowers, hugs and kisses before he boarded the ambulance, including his wife Janelle Thrane.
Thrane was directing traffic just before midnight Nov. 3 at the site of a crash in Yaphank when a Chevrolet pickup driven by William Petersohn, 38, of Mastic, crashed into the back of a GMC Yukon parked nearby, police said. The impact from the crash caused the Yukon to fishtail and spin into Thrane.
A married father of three young children, Thrane was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital with a life-threatening brain injury and a fractured skull. On Nov. 5 Thrane was in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator but stable.
Ten days later, doctors announced the three-year veteran cop had suffered a “significant pulmonary compromise,” sending him into emergency brain surgery.
“Tim is critically ill and remains on a ventilator and on life support,” Dr. James Vosswinkel, the chief of trauma surgery at Stony Brook, said Nov. 15.
“After five weeks in the care of Dr. James Vosswinkel,” said Suffolk Police Benevolent Association President Noel DiGerolamo of Thrane, “we’re thrilled he’s made this miraculous recovery and it’s only by the grace of God and those who treated him, he’s alive today.”
Petersohn, who was also injured, pleaded not guilty through his attorney during a Nov. 4 arraignment from his hospital room.to a misdemeanor charge of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Petersohn is set to return to court Dec. 22.
A Suffolk County PBA endorsed fundraiser for Thrane had raised nearly $140,000 to cover expenses by Thursday night.
Family members said Friday was a milestone and they were “grateful to be at this joint in the road.”
His mother, Joann Thrane, said Friday was her birthday and all she wanted was for her son to leave the hospital and see his family again.
“Today is the best birthday present I’ve ever had,” she said. “It’s a miracle, our Christmas miracle this happened and he’s going to come home to his kids.”
