SEATTLE — A helicopter crashed to the ground and landed on his car March 18. The man driving that car, Richard Newman, is out of intensive care at Harborview Medical Center. On Tuesday Richard Newman's partner talked about Newman's fight to recover. The 38-year-old has had two surgeries so far.
Newman's partner, Daniel Jung, talked to reporters at Harborview. He said Newman does not remember the accident.
”Frankly we’re fortunate, thankful he does not remember,” said Jung. "Richard's a fighter. He's a person who sees an obstacle and he'll overcome it. I almost lost somebody, the love of my life. The one person I'm married to,” Jung added.
The couple has a young son. Newman manages clinical trials at Genelex, he also worked with the health department helping to stop the spread of HIV. He was on his way to work when the accident happened.
Doctors described what it took to treat Newman's burns which cover 20 percent of his body. "Dr. Pham temporarily closed Mr. Newman's wounds by putting sheets of pig skin on top of the wounds,” said Dr. Nicole Gibran, Director of the UW Medicine Regional Burn Center at Harborview Medical Center.
Newman had a second surgery yesterday where doctors removed the pig skin and replaced it with grafts of Newman's own skin. He could require a third surgery to treat burns on his face and behind his ear. Whether or not he needs a third surgery will impact how much longer he will be hospitalized. He was in the acute care unit, in the burn center on Tuesday.
Jung is thankful Newman survived. "What could have been didn't happen and that gives me a lot of strength," Jung said.
The pilot, Gary Pfitzner, and photographer, Bill Strothman, died when the KOMO helicopter crashed. The cause of the crash is still under investigation by the NTSB.