Doctors: Officer stabbed in neck at airport recovering well
FLINT, Mich. — The Flint, Michigan, airport officer stabbed in the neck during what authorities are investigating as a terrorist act is recovering well from a 12-inch “slash” that caused significant bleeding but spared major arteries and a nerve by “millimeters,” one of his doctors said Friday.
Hurley Medical Center doctors said during a news conference that Bishop International Airport police Lt. Jeff Neville could be released from the hospital within a couple days. Dr. Donald Scholten said he is making good progress after being stabbed from “by his Adam’s apple” up “to the angle of his jaw.”
“This was a matter of millimeters,” Scholten said. “The slash was probably very, very close to severing his major arteries and nerve — perhaps even his windpipe and digestive systems … This was not a shaving nick, if you will. This was significant force.”
Neville was stabbed Wednesday at the airport in Flint, about 50 miles (80.46 kilometres) northwest of Detroit. Amor Ftouhi, 49, a Canadian from Tunisia, is charged in the attack. Detroit FBI head David Gelios said Ftouhi unsuccessfully tried to buy a gun once he arrived in the U.S. but instead managed to buy a large knife.