Head Injury

A bicyclist was in serious but stable condition yesterday with a head injury from a fall on Harney Road near Piney Creek Road.James Edward White, 56, of the 1200 block of Meridene Drive in Baltimore, was riding with a group of about 30 bicyclists yesterday morning when he hit a spot where a layer of pavement about 1 inch thick had been removed in preparation for resurfacing.A witness said Mr. White slid for 20 to 30 feet before coming to rest, unconscious.The police report said Mr. White regained consciousness before a helicopter arrived to take him to Shock Trauma in Baltimore.

UPDATE: I just received an email response from Cam Weber, GM of American Football for EA Sports. He writes: “In order to depict the seriousness of concussions, when a player is injured in a Madden NFL game, they will be tended to by the medical staff and then escorted off the field. If the injury is determined to be a possible concussion, the player will not be permitted back into the game. Madden NFL has been used to help teach the sport of football to several generations in regards to the rules and complexities of the sport.

When Ron Ogle talks about traumatic brain injury, he speaks with the passion of someone who has overcome a coma to resume his singing career.And Mr. Ogle says he is determined to keep others from walking the path he's been forced to travel for more than a year."

Police have been unable to determine how a 46-year-old woman ended up lying face down, with severe head trauma, in the southbound lanes of a Madison Park street six days ago. The woman was found by police responding to a call that a pedestrian had been struck at about 6:20 p.m. on Dec. 19 in the 1700 block of Eutaw Place, according to a statement from Baltimore police Saturday. She was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center and listed in critical condition. Baltimore police did not find any evidence at the scene that the woman was struck by a vehicle, the statement said, and her clothes and shoes had not been disturbed.

The death Friday of a 2-month-old infant brought to Johns Hopkins Hospital with a severe head injury was ruled a homicide yesterday by the state medical examiner's office, while her father remained in jail -- held on assault and child abuse charges in the case, authorities said.Police said the victim, Ciera Jenkins, was brought to Hopkins by her father Nov. 29 with the head injury.Doctors treating the girl found other injuries.The father, William Jenkins Jr., 25, of the 2700 block of Dulany St., has been in custody since then -- charged with abuse after questioning by child protective services workers and police.

A 31-year-old South Baltimore man remained in critical and unstable condition at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center last night after suffering a head injury while being arrested by two city police officers.The incident occurred about 12:30 a.m. Sunday in the 200 block of S. Fulton Ave. as the officers arrested George T. Hite on charges of disorderly intoxication and resisting arrest. Because of the severity of Mr. Hite's injury, a city homicide detective is investigating the incident.Shock Trauma officials declined to discuss details of Mr. Hite's injuries last night, but members of his family said he was in a coma and had little chance of recovering.

A photo caption on the front of yesterday's Today section misidentified the Johns Hopkins researchers developing a device to measure the impact of blows to the head. They are, from left, Nicholas Jones, Walter Stewart and Wolfger Schneider.The Sun regrets the error.Imagine your brain, a delicate blob of floating gray matter fragilely moored to the skull.Now, imagine your brain after a ferocious left hook.Not a pretty picture.But one worth examining. While the Journal of the American Medical Association wages a continuing crusade against the sweet science -- a June editorial called for a ban on amateur boxing -- Johns Hopkins researchers have jumped in the ring for a closer look.

Steve Young took the first hit on his chest, just under his chin and at the top of his red No. 8. Then, in whiplash action, the back of his helmet caromed off a teammate's knee and the grass surface of Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz. Just like that, the intense quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers was revisiting no-man's land last Monday night. Out like a light for several long seconds, Young's past and future conspired to paint one frightening picture of a proud athlete on the edge.

The Baltimore-built Chevrolet Astro van, one of the most popular passenger vans in the country, is also one of the most dangerous, according to federal crash tests.Drivers of this year's model have a 90 percent chance of dying in a 35-mile-per-hour crash into a wall, a slight improvement over the 1985 model's risk of 96 percent, but one of the worst performances by any van in years.The results sparked outrage from consumer advocates, denials from some GM workers and an indication of concern from one GM official yesterday.

Annapolis basketball player Elliott DeVoe, who suffered a head injury Monday night at Glen Burnie, was released yesterday from the Maryland Shock Trauma Center. According to coach John Brady, DeVoe is resting at home and is expected to miss a few days of school. -- Pat O'Malley

The death of a Pikesville woman last month has been ruled a homicide by state medical examiner, Baltimore County police said Thursday. Gwendolyn Jackson, 44, of the 5200 block of St. Charles Avenue had called 911 on Nov. 21 to report a verbal argument with her boyfriend, 52-year-old Herbert Westley Johnson, in the 4600 block of Chickory Hill Lane, police said. Officers who responded to the domestic disturbance call at 9:40 p.m. said both parties said no physical contact had occurred, police said.

Former Ravens running back Jamal Lewis is one of four ex-NFL players who are suing the league over brain injuries that they say have impaired their post-football lives, according to an Associated Press report. Lewis and Dorsey  Levens, Fulton Kuykendall and Ryan Stewart, filed the lawsuit against the National Football League and NFL Properties LLC this week in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, saying the NFL knew as early as the 1920s of the potential for concussions to harm its players but only went public last year.

Normally, the first full-contact workout of an NFL training camp is a fairly perfunctory thing. The players take their first hard knocks and start to get into the rhythm of the daily battle for their places on the regular season roster. That was the case on Saturday for just about everyone in uniform at the Ravens facility except second-year linebacker Sergio Kindle, whose return from a serious head injury has everyone in camp - the coaching staff, the media, his teammates - watching and waiting to see if he is healthy enough to be the dynamic defensive player the Ravens drafted in the second round out of the University of Texas last year.

A Harford County man was injured Friday night in what has been initially described by police as a fight between neighbors. Around 10:43 p.m. Friday, Harford County sheriff's deputies responded to the 500 block of Philadelphia Road in Joppa for a reported fight in progress. When they arrived, deputies found Kent Luther Lawing, 56, suffering from a head injury believed to have been sustained during the fight. Members of the Joppa Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company responded to the scene, provided medical attention and took Lawing to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center.

L. Alan Keene, you're all wet on your article "Save boaters from themselves" (May 18). Your comparison to cell phones while driving and helmets for motorcycles is overstated. Using cell phones while driving, like drunk-driving, directly endangers the lives of others. The chances of critical injury or death from falling into the water are vastly lower than head injury in a motorcycle crash. People like you would legislate every personal freedom we have away. What's next — you have to wear a PFD ( personal flotation device)

A Johns Hopkins University student was in critical condition Saturday with a head injury after he was struck by a car at the intersection of St. Paul and W. 33rd streets, police said. The 21-year-old sophomore is expected to survive, as is another student who was hit by the car at about 2:15 a.m. Saturday. Police said the driver who struck the students at the intersection near the university might have been intoxicated. Hopkins Dean of Student Life Susan K. Boswell identified the students in an email to the campus community as Benjamin Zucker and freshman Rachel Cohen, 18. Police said Zucker was in critical condition but is expected to survive.

A 64-year-old Severna Park man died yesterday in a tree-trimming accident, falling from the top of a 20-foot ladder, county police reported. The victim, Thomas Francis Degnan, was pronounced dead on the driveway of his home in the 100 block of Northway about 3:30 p.m., police said. A tree limb that he and a neighbor had been trimming fell and knocked Degnan from the ladder, and he appeared to have died instantly from a head injury, said Officer Charles Ravenell, a police spokesman.

Archbishop Spalding junior first baseman Nick Freeberger sits on a dugout bench. The evening sun is shining on his boyish face, and he smiles. It has been a good day. He helped his No. 2 Cavaliers to victory with a three-run home run. That would be enough to make most high school baseball players grin, but there is more behind this display of happiness than a single game. To look at him now, no one would suspect that a little more than a month ago, screws were ground into his head for a halo to support a broken neck, and that the chances of his playing baseball this season or perhaps ever were in doubt.

Archbishop Spalding junior first baseman Nick Freeberger sits on a dugout bench. The evening sun is shining on his boyish face, and he smiles. It has been a good day. He helped his No. 2 Cavaliers to victory with a three-run home run. That would be enough to make most high school baseball players grin, but there is more behind this display of happiness than a single game. To look at him now, no one would suspect that a little more than a month ago, screws were ground into his head for a halo to support a broken neck, and that the chances of his playing baseball this season or perhaps ever were in doubt.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh provided his most hopeful outlook on Sergio Kindle, saying the second-round linebacker has a chance to play in 2011. Harbaugh had previously been guarded about Kindle's future ever since the team's top draft pick from last season fractured his skull by falling down two flights of stairs in July. But Harbaugh's tone was decidedly different when addressing Kindle during a fan forum conference call Wednesday night. "I'm more optimistic now than ever before that he has a chance to come back and play," Harbaugh said.