Virginia BLM protester who was hit on his head by toppling statue is still in coma and has flatlined twice
PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA: The wife of a Black Lives Matter protester who was rushed to the hospital after he was hit on the head by a Confederate statue he was trying to topple said he has been put into a medically-induced coma to treat his injuries.
MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) previously reported that Chris Green, a 45-year-old father-of-two, was severely injured near one of four statues of Confederate-era soldiers in Portsmouth, Virginia, as it was being beheaded by George Floyd protesters on Wednesday, June 10.
The statue fell directly on him while it was being pulled down by ropes, with the horrifying moment caught on cameras filming the incident. The president of the Black Lives Matter 757 had subsequently revealed that Green's "skull was actually showing" from the accident and that he had lost "a great amount of blood."
The 45-year-old was rushed to the hospital, but not before he flatlined twice en route, according to his wife of thirteen years, Tonieh Brisbane-Green.
She revealed to 13 News Now that doctors told her "they were surprised he even made it because that thing [the statue] is so heavy" and she was still unsure how it came to fall on her husband.
Brisbane-Green said she heard that his back had been turned when the statue came down on him. "So he didn’t even see it coming, like, 'Oh let me move out of the way,'" she shared. "And then I heard it was hard for the ambulance to even get to him because of the crowds."
The Virginian-Pilot reported that Green was one of those who were trying to get people out of the way as demonstrators beheaded the statues and happened to be caught as it toppled.
Brisbane-Green she was in a state of shock over what had transpired. "I just feel like I’m in a dream right now. Like, I just need to be pinched to wake up and everything will go back to normal," she said, adding that she was upset protesters did not "think" before pulling the statue down.
She insisted that she was all for people's right to protest but that they should do so in "a peaceful manner," and that there was "no need to do all of that especially while there were so many people around that statue knowing that somebody’s going to get hurt."
A GoFundMe page set up to cover the cost of Green's medical expenses has already raised close to $42,000 out of a $45,000 goal. Rocky Hines, one of the organizers of the protest who set up the page, said he had apologized to the 45-year-old's family.
"We are responsible for this, and we need to right it in whatever way we can," he said. "I apologized on our behalf, and she (Green’s sister) said he doesn’t want anyone upset with us. His family is not upset, they are hurting."
While he still remains in the hospital, Green's condition is said to have stabilized. His brain is reportedly showing signs of neurological activity, giving his family hope that he will make a full recovery.