Thrashers coping with accident

Snyder still in coma; Heatley facing 15 years in prison

Bill Kaufmann, SLAM! Sports

Calgary, Alberta -- Atlanta Thrashers star Dany Heatley faces up to 15 years in prison after he lost control of his Ferrari, hurting himself and leaving a teammate clinging to life in a coma.

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on its Web site Wednesday afternoon that Heatley is in police custody. 

Atlanta Police Department Sgt. John Quigley said Heatley will remain in the corrections portion of Grady Memorial Hospital under police custody until he is physically able to be moved to the city jail for formal processing on multiple charges.

Heatley is scheduled to be in traffic court Oct. 10 to face charges of reckless driving, serious injury by vehicle, driving too fast for conditions, driving on the wrong side of the road and striking a fixed object, according to a police report.

 The medical conditions of Heatley, 22, and teammate Dan Synder, 25, remained unchanged Wednesday afternoon.

Atlanta police say Heatley was driving a black Ferrari Monday night when it failed to negotiate a curve in the city's Buckhead area, crossed into the opposite lane then smacked into a brick pillar and iron fence at 80 mph.

"They were traveling at an extremely high rate of speed ... the collision actually severed the vehicle in half," said Sgt. Kevin Iosty.

Snyder was thrown from the car and sustained a fractured skull.

At a news conference, the neurosurgeon who operated on Snyder said the player was still comatose, but that there wasn't any bleeding into the brain.

"It'll be a few days before we know we can even tell a prognosis," Dr. Sanjay Gupta said. "The underlying brain actually looked pretty good."

Heatley suffered a broken jaw and was in stable condition at the same hospital.

Heatley also has a minor concussion, a contusion on his lung and a bruised kidney, according to team physician, Dr. Scott Gillogly.

None of the injuries appeared to be career-threatening, Gillogly said.

The Thrashers forward and 2002 NHL rookie of the year has been charged with inflicting serious injury by vehicle, a felony that carries a sentence of one to 15 years. He's also been charged with misdemeanors including reckless driving, driving too fast, driving on the wrong side of the road and striking a fixed object.

"[Heatley] was given a blood test, which is standard under state law, but he is not charged with any alcohol-related offense at this point," said Iosty. The results of that test might not be known for days or weeks, say police.

Parents of both Heatley and Snyder rushed to the airport for flights to Atlanta.

"We don't know anything," Murray Heatley told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution en route to the airport in Calgary.

"We just know they were in a bad accident. We're praying for [Dany]. We're hoping and praying for Dan Snyder."

Atlanta police reports show Heatley was involved in an earlier traffic accident in the same area of the city in January 2002, when he rear-ended another vehicle.

The vehicle Heatley was driving Monday was a used 2002 360 Spider the hockey player purchased "a couple of months ago," said Steven Eckhoff, sales manager at Atlanta Ferrari.

"People don't buy them because they go slow," said Eckhoff. "It's like a pistol in the wrong hands -- you hope anyone driving anything will drive it sensibly and we just hope both of those injured in this accident will be OK."

Heatley's base salary this year is set to be $1.075 million, while he's earned several million dollars more in the past two years in bonuses.

The Thrashers canceled practice today and were considering cancelling tomorrow night's exhibition game against Florida.

Their season opens a week from Thursday.

"Nobody's really thinking about hockey," captain Shawn McEachern said. "We're thinking about the guys."

The usually energetic Thrashers coach Bob Hartley was sullen as he answered questions at the team's training headquarters.

"Right now, our thoughts and prayers are just with the two [players] and their families," Hartley said. "We're a big family."

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