Former “30 Rock” star and one of America’s most beloved comedians, Tracy Morgan, may not ever be the same after being in a car accident five months ago, according to his lawyer.
After the June accident on the New Jersey Turnpike , it has become unclear whether Morgan will ever be “the Tracy Morgan he once was,” his attorney, Benedict Morelli, said Tuesday.
He then told MSNBC.com that the injuries Morgan sustained were much more serious than first reported.
“The story with Tracy is at the beginning when reports came out they had a lot of misinformation,” Morelli said. “The first thing thing that happened is that they reported that he died. Then they reported that he had lost his leg. The truth is that he actually had a very bad traumatic brain injury.”
The 45-year-old was injured when a Walmart tractor trailer slammed into the limo bus he and several friends were riding in after a show in Delaware. The crash killed comedian and writer James McNair and three others were injured, but initially it seemed Morgan, with a broken leg and broken ribs, was relatively fine.
“I’m okay,” he said in July after being released from a rehabilitation center. “I feel strong.”
“He’s fighting to get better, and if there’s a chance for him to be back to the Tracy Morgan he once was, he’s going to try to do that,” the attorney told the Associated Press. “But we just don’t know because of the severity of the injuries that he sustained and the fact that he had such a severe brain injury.”
Morgan’s lawyers were in court Tuesday to settle the schedule for Morgan’s negligence lawsuit against Wal-Mart.
“When you have a traumatic brain injury it takes a very long time to find out how you’re going to do and how much you’re going to recover,” Morelli said. “You just don’t know. So that’s where he is. He’s still fighting and trying to live his life at the same time and trying to get better, and he’s just not better. We’re hoping and praying to get him back to where he was. But the jury’s out.”
