Chiefs Pro Bowler Derrick Thomas sustained fractures of the vertebrae in the neck and back Sunday in a single-car accident on interstate 435 near Woodland Avenue in Kansas City, North, that killed one person and injured another, team officials announced today. Dr. Jon Browne, the Chiefs' team physician, said Thomas has paralysis in his legs and said he would be transferred to a medical facility in Miami as quickly as possible. He refused to speculate how much paralysis Thomas will have or when he would be moved.
Improvement can come slowly or in rapid bursts.
Thomas and another passenger, who was pronounced dead at the scene, were thrown from the vehicle. Teammates and friends gathered at the hospital today. Peterson and Chiefs coach Gunther Cunningham were joined by Steve Palermo, a former American League umpire who was shot in 1991 and suffered partial paralysis. A source close to the family, who asked not to be identified, said that as Thomas was treated at the scene, he was conscious and said he had no feeling in his legs. A close friend, who also asked not to be identified, said physicians made a preliminary diagnosis that Thomas was suffering from a broken vertebra in his back and that his spinal cord had been damaged, but not severed.