'Joyous': LI Officer Leaves Hospital After Brutal High-Speed Crash

BRENTWOOD, NY — Brendon Gallagher— the Suffolk County Police Officer who was airlifted and hospitalized after a high-speed car chase and crash hospitalized him with a torn aorta and split abdomen—was released from Stony Brook University Hospital on Monday after 22 days spent fighting for his life.

The crash left Gallagher on life support until Jan. 13 when police said he was "upgraded to fair condition" and off the ventilator. Then on Friday, police told Patch he was "still hospitalized and continuing to recover. Just three days later, Gallagher went home.

Gallagher exited the hospital in a wheelchair with a smile while waving at his supporters and wearing a Suffolk County PBA sweatshirt that said: "Gallagher strong."

"Just want to thank everyone for their support and I'm proud to be a Suffolk cop," Gallagher said to the crowd.

Just minutes before he appeared, Suffolk County officials held a press conference on the hospital grounds.

"Today we witness someone that was so severely injured returning to recover at home," said Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine. "Today we see something that is truly nothing short of a miracle that he is being released three weeks and one day after his accident. I cannot say it loud enough: Welcome home, Brendon."

The Suffolk County Police Department announced Gallagher's impending release Sunday night, calling it "miraculous" in a statement.

On Monday morning, Suffolk County Police Acting Commissioner Robert Waring credited Gallagher's recovery to his "fighting spirit, his determination, and his will to live."

"He still has a long road to recovery but knowing him, he'll fight through it and we'll see him at work very soon," Waring added. "He's an amazing guy and he's an inspiration to all of us."

Doctor James Vosswinkel, SBUH's chief of Division of Trauma, Emergency Surgery, and Surgical Critical Care—the same surgeon who saved Gallagher's life two years before after the brutal stabbing that nearly cost him his life—spoke at the conference and walked him through the hospital doors.

After calling Gallagher "one tough kid," Vosswinkel recapped his struggle, which included being trapped in his vehicle for 45 minutes "bleeding out and trying to die."

"When he came in he was in stage four shock which is the worst type of shock. He was dying," Vosswinkel recalled. "We were very fortunate, we immediately resuscitated him with life-saving blood products. We ascertained he was hemorrhaging significantly internally from his aorta, which is the largest blood vessel."

The doctor added that the first responders did an "incredible job" stopping the hemorrhage in his abdominal wall that was "completely lacerated open through the muscle, presumably from the steering wheel."

Vosswinkel said Gallagher survived thanks to a team of surgeons and spent nine days on life support. When they took him off of life support, Gallagher was so weak he "couldn't even bring his hand to his mouth for some ice chips.'"

Vosswinkel added that although he has suffered nerve damage to his legs, he's "working like a champ, really really aggressively to get better."

"We're at a really good point now, we're at a joyous point that Brendon is going to be discharged home today, and I don't say that lightly with the circumstances," Vosswinkel said minutes before Gallagher appeared. "The words miracle and miraculous are sometimes overstated, not in this case. Brendon still has a long road. We hope that with intense physical therapy, he recovers the full working ability of his legs. There's unfortunately a chance we're gonna have to reconstruct his abdomen just from the severe amount of trauma he had. But he's in great spirits, he's a fighter. Where we are is really, really, miraculous."

Meanwhile, Cody Fisher, the man driving the Ford Mustang at 100 miles per hour when he sideswiped Gallagher and caused him to crash, was indicted for assault on a police officer and other charges on Jan. 17, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said.

Supreme Court Justice John B. Collins ordered Fisher to be held on $1 million cash, $2 million bond, or $10 million partially secured bond during the pendency of the case, and Fisher’s driving privileges in New York State were suspended, the DA said.

Fisher is due back in court on Feb. 20 and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the top count, the DA said.