A journalist shot by police during the 2020 Minneapolis unrest following the murder of George Floyd is dying from her injuries, friends say.
Linda Tirado was in Minneapolis from out of state covering the protests and rioting when police shot her in the face with a rubber bullet, also known as a “less-lethal” round. She suffered a traumatic brain injury and was blinded in one eye.
I would have liked some more info on how the brain injury is slowly killing her. My perception of what a brain injury could be is clearly wrong because I have been under the impression that the brain is pretty sturdy as long as the initial injury doesn’t kill you.
TBI’s can resonate as issues later on in life for anyone.
American Football players and even Rugby players have been known to get them or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) as the result of repeated mild TBIs occurring over months or years playing.
As another example, I was in a near fatal rollover accident as a child and developed partially complex seizures in the left temporal 22 years later as an adult from that incident.
I am so sorry for what you went through and that you still struggle with symptoms today.
I honestly read this as a near fatal Rollercoaster accident and I was struggling so hard because boy did I want to know more of what that meant, but how insensitive to ask!
I’m sorry it wasn’t that. At least then you could avoid going on a roller-coaster ever again but it was and probably still is difficult being in or driving a car. I hope you’re doing well!
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/21/nx-s1-5015030/linda-tirado-journalist-shot-police-2020-george-floyd-protests-hospice-care looks like it progressed to dementia.
She has a substack, and is a bit wavey around the details sometimes, but she writes about coming to terms with it.
https://lindatirado.substack.com/
The NPR article is also far more detailed.
Thank you. Early onset dementia seems about right. It also feels like something insurance companies will claim would have happened anyway.
Never mind insurance; I’m hoping a prosecutor will take on the odds at the murder trial!
It also feels like something insurance companies will claim would have happened anyway.
Fascinating reasoning. As all mortal being eventually die (because living and dying are the same process), this would entail that no death is worth caring about, as all deaths ‘would have happened anyway’.
Rubber bullets are supposed to be skipped off the pavement in front of the people you’re shooting at. This reduces their impact and is supposed to make the bullets “less lethal.” These cops didn’t do that. Her maiming was the result of a deliberately aimed shot from a rifle.
the brain is pretty sturdy as long as the initial injury doesn’t kill you.
As a nurse, I’m confused at that sentiment. How on earth did you get there?
If the brain is damaged, it rarely gets much better after that. Unless you have just one mild concussion, brain injuries tend to more likely getting worse over time and rarely better.
Your brain is not just a broken bone that heals back together after a few weeks.
By not being a trained nurse. Being wrong is pretty easy, you just have to not know things.
My perception was that if you get something like a stroke, the initial damage is horrendous and that usually don’t heal. Any improvement is the brain offloading the lost functions to other parts of the brain. But once the damage is done and doctors and nurses stopped the source of the damage, I figured the brain would just remain where it was.
Sure the brain may survive, but will the consciousness that you identify as you survive?
