Prognosis Unchanged, Frier Faces Weeks In Intensive Care

MIKE FRIER'S neurological situation and vital signs are stable, his doctor says. And the Seahawk has talked with girlfriend Kelly Butler about events that led to the auto accident. -----------------------------------------------------------------

His teammates played a football game while Mike Frier slipped in and out of consciousness.

Chris Warren was in the front seat of the sports-utility vehicle. He rushed for 81 yards yesterday against the Indianapolis Colts. Lamar Smith also was in the front seat, and suffered a fractured foot.

Frier was in the back seat. Lying in a hospital bed yesterday, he struggled to move his arms.

Three Seattle Seahawks were in the same vehicle Thursday night. They left it worlds apart. The difference that night between being in the front or back seat was fateful.

Frier, 25, is paralyzed from the neck down with the exception of a little movement in his arms. Doctors say it is unlikely he will walk again.

His waking moments yesterday were few and short, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The prognosis has not changed. He remained in serious condition yesterday at Overlake Hospital Medical Center in Bellevue, two days after surgery to align and fuse broken vertebrae in his neck.

"His neurological situation and vital signs are stable," said Dr. Michael Schlitt, who operated on Frier. "But there's been no change in motion. He has some use of his upper arms, but is still suffering from quadriplegia."

Frier also has pneumonia, a common complication of quadriplegia. He is being treated with antibiotics. Fluids collect in his lungs and are sucked out through a tube.

Frier will be in cervical traction indefinitely to stabilize his spine. Schlitt expects Frier to remain in intensive care for up to three weeks and anticipates Frier's rehabilitation to take two to four months.

For now, Schlitt said, Frier needs sleep.

Members of Frier's family came to Seattle on Saturday at the Seahawks' expense, but chose not to speak to reporters.

In Seattle are Frier's birth mother Beatrice Poindexter, his adoptive father, Ulysses Frier, and two brothers.

In a statement, the family conveyed its appreciation for the "prayers, care and support" they have received.

Also at the hospital is Frier's girlfriend, Kelly Butler, with whom he has an infant daughter. Butler was with Frier immediately after the accident.

"I was massaging his feet," Butler told The New York Times. "I asked him if he could feel it and he whispered it felt funny but he could feel it. He was moving both his arms today. He was moving them like he was doing weights, and I said, `Yeah, we're going to get there.'

"He's unbelievable, though. Before the surgery, he was joking with the nurses, joking with me. They wheeled him into the operating room and he was still joking. He knows the situation himself, but you wouldn't have known something was wrong with him."

Frier and Butler spoke briefly before his operation. From that conversation, Butler tried to piece together the events of Thursday night preceding the accident.

Butler said she dropped off Frier at a Kirkland pool hall called The Shark at 4:30 p.m. for a "boys night out." She came to pick him up at 7:30, but Frier, Warren and Smith had left.

Butler paged Frier from The Shark. The three decided to go to Warren's house so Frier could answer the page, but Warren realized he had left his house keys at the Seahawk practice facility. The accident occurred on their way to the practice facility.

Before the operation, Butler said Frier told her that Smith was driving the car, according to The New York Times. Police arrested Warren for investigation of vehicular assault. Warren's agent and Smith's agent also have said Smith was driving.

"We expect to serve a search warrent either today or tomorrow on the vehicle," said Capt. Jon Hartley of the Kirkland police this morning. "We are seeking all the evidence on the case we can...not just for one specific thing."

Detectives spent the weekend taking statements from witnesses and reviewing what information has been gathered, Hartley said.

Meanwhile, Warren has retained Seattle attorney John Wolfe to conduct an independent investigation of the accident.

According to Overlake spokeswoman Ann Evans, the hospital has received "hundreds of calls from football players, coaches and well-wishers across the country."

Although flowers are not allowed in the intensive-care unit, cards can be sent to Frier at the hospital. The address is: Overlake Hospital Medical Center, 1035 116th Ave. N.E., Bellevue, WA 98004.