| X-ray of Carol Shuler's shattered arm, broken by a Missouri deputy. This image, taken before any repair efforts, shows that the force was so violent that the humerus (the large bone in the upper arm) almost was forced through the skin. (X-ray from Cox North Medical Center, Springfield, MO,)How violent was a Missouri deputy's assault on my wife that left her with a shattered left arm during an unlawful eviction on September 9? The image above provides the best answer we have so far to that question.How corrupt and dishonest was Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott, who oversaw the eviction and was standing about five feet away when one of his deputies slammed Carol to the ground and violently yanked her arms in a backward and upper motion? The circumstances surrounding the origins of the above image provide a solid answer to that question.We've presented several X-rays of Carol's broken arm after it was repaired by Dr. Brian Buck, a trauma surgeon at Cox South Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri, and at the University of Missouri Health System in Columbia. (See here and here.) Those images are hard to look at--at least for me--with nine screws that we can count and multiple titanium plates holding Carol's arm in place.But the above image is the first one we've shown of the original damage--showing the jagged edges of her humerus (the large bone in the upper arm), with what appears to be a piece of the bone left hanging just above the elbow joint. You also can see that the force almost drove the bone through the skin, and caregivers said parts of the bone were essentially pulverized and could not be salvaged. Our understanding is that the plates and screws were implanted, in part, so that the remaining pieces of bone can grow together, filling in where parts of bone no longer exist.I have a hard time looking at this image without throwing up--and I don't think it's entirely because that arm happens to be attached to my wife. It makes me sick that one human--a so-called "officer of the law"--could do this to another. And what are the repercussions for Carol? She's going to need at least eight weeks of physical therapy, and we don't know how we are going to pay for it. On top of that, therapists say a good result for such a severe injury might be 75 percent usage of her arm--that is significantly down from the 95 percent figure we originally were hoping for.Why are we just now presenting these images of the original damage? That brings us back to Sheriff Jim Arnott, and we will examine that question further in an upcoming post. |
