State Patrol Trooper Scott Hinshaw is making an amazingly fast recovery and may be able to return to work in some capacity within six months, the chief of orthopaedic surgery at Denver Health Medical Center said today.
“Trooper Hinshaw suffered a very high-energy series of injuries to primarily his lower extremities,” Dr. Wade Smith said during a news conference. “But he is back on his feet. He is a very determined young man. With all the support of his family, his recovery is … very fast compared to most of the trauma patients we take care of.
“He is also a really big sports fan,” Smith added. “I think the success of the Rockies might have played a little bit into his recovery.”
Hinshaw was seriously injured and Trooper Zachariah Templeton, 27, killed Oct. 11 while assisting a motorist along Interstate 76 who had lost one of two plastic agricultural tanks he was hauling on a trailer.
A 17-year-old boy, driving a Ford F-150, slid off the highway and crashed into the two troopers.
No charges have been filed, but Patrol Master Trooper Ron Watkins said at the news conference he expects them to be.
“We think the (17-year-old) may have been distracted somehow — not watching the road — and slid off the road hitting our two troopers,” Watkins said.
Doctors said that among Hinshaw’s injuries are a broken thigh bone, a second leg fracture, knee injuries and a large amount of muscle and ligament damage.
Both Smith and Susan Hinshaw, Hinshaw’s wife, said the trooper is focused primarily on the Rockies, who sent him an autographed bat and baseball.
“It lit him up like a 12-year-old on Christmas morning,” Susan Hinshaw said. “His statement has always been ‘I’m not a flash in the pan fan’.”
Smith said Hinshaw’s focus on the Rockies is extremely good news because he is not overly concerned about his injuries although he is undergoing intensive rehabilitation.
“I believe that he has a high chance — because of his youth, determination, fitness, mental state and family support — of returning to his job,” the doctor said.
Susan Hinshaw said that her husband was on his way home from work to celebrate the couple’s 15th wedding anniversary when he was injured.
“I’m just appreciative of all the prayer and support that we have received,” she said. “I’m overwhelmed. He is very, very grateful. His heart is obviously breaking for the Templeton family.”
Watkins said two accidents, the one that injured Hinshaw and killed Templeton, and a second on Sunday that killed off duty State Trooper Mark Dold, have been tough on the State Patrol.
We’ve never had back-to-back losses like that, but we are family,” Watkins said.
He described Hinshaw as an upbeat, happy-go-lucky guy who hasn’t let his injuries get him down.
And Susan Hinshaw said her husband loves his work: “He is a trooper who does what he wants to do and is happy doing it. He is a very careful man in what he does. I don’t worry.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
