French policeman emerges from coma
Extent of brain damage still unknown after World Cup beating
Posted: Tuesday August 04, 1998 11:15 AM
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Gendarme Nivel had been in a deep coma with irreversible brain damage since hooligans attacked him on June 21 AP |
LILLE, France (Reuters) -- The French policeman brutally beaten by German hooligans during the World Cup has emerged from a six-week coma, hospital officials said on Tuesday.
"Six weeks after a serious head injury, the police officer has regained consciousness. He no longer requires respiratory assistance and spends several hours a day seated in a chair," said an official of the Lille Hospital Center in northern France.
Gendarme Daniel Nivel, 43, had been in a deep coma with irreversible brain damage since hooligans attacked him on June 21 outside a stadium in the northern town of Lens where Germany was playing Yugoslavia.
The savage attack triggered shock and revulsion around the world, cast a pall over the World Cup competition and prompted a wave of soul-searching in Germany, where authorities vowed to crack down on hooliganism.
Four young Germans have been taken into custody and charged with attempted murder in connection with the beating.
The hospital official said Nivel, a father of two, still had serious problems speaking and understanding and suffered from a weakness in the muscles on the right side of his body.
No further surgery was planned, however, and he was expected to be moved to a rehabilitation center within a few weeks, the official said.
German investigators said hooligans had thrown Nivel to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked him before knocking him out by hitting him over the head with his own tear-gas dispenser.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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