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Paraplegic Man Thrown Into NM Desert Without Wheelchair Survives Three Days While Crawling for Four Miles

Oct. 24, 2012 8:49am Liz Klimas

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (TheBlaze/AP) — A paraplegic man who says he was stranded in the New Mexico desert without his wheelchair dragged himself about four miles down a dirt road. Over three days, several motorists passed him before one stopped to help.

Tattered and dirty, Ricky Gilmore’s blue jeans tell part of the story. His body tells the rest – the skin on his left leg and buttocks is shredded, his wrist is sprained and his kidneys are in bad shape from going without food and water.

“Ah man, I’m just a big mess. I ache and I’m just in the first stages of healing,” he said Tuesday at the Northern Navajo Medical Center in Shiprock, N.M.

Hitchhiking Paraplegic Left in NM Desert By Those Who Picked Him Up, Survived Three Days Before Being Rescued

Ricky Gilmore, 49, shows the pair of pants he was wearing when he dragged himself four miles down a road for three days last week near Tocito, N.M. (Photo: AP/The Daily Times, Augusta Liddic)

Gilmore, 49, is being treated for acute kidney failure from dehydration, a sprained wrist and a blood infection. He spent two days in intensive care and it could be at least another week before he can go home.

The Farmington Daily Times first reported Gilmore’s story. He was found along a seldom-traveled road on the Navajo Nation about 10 miles from his home in Newcomb, which is on the eastern side of the reservation.

Gilmore said he was dropped in the desert by a couple in a white truck whom he met while he was hitchhiking. He had invited them to his home for steaks, and they later went for what Gilmore thought was going to be a joyride.

When he declined to share his alcohol with them, Gilmore said the man grabbed him by his feet and threw him out of the truck while parked along the desolate road.

It was early evening and Gilmore had nothing – no wheelchair, no food, no water, no coat – to help him endure the flat desert scrubland.

“It was dark and I was shivering and the wind was blowing so I just crawled to a bush and dug in right there. It was cold that night,” he said.

The temperature was reported to hit record lows the nights Gilmore was stranded.

With the sunrise, survival mode kicked in.

“I started dragging myself. I did the same thing all day and I only got about two miles,” he said.

Two people passed by. Gilmore tried flagging them down but they only honked and kept going.

After spending a second night at the side of the road, Gilmore said he woke up sore and thirsty and didn’t want to move.

“I could have easily gave up and said ‘Forget it,’ but I said ‘I’m not going to freeze out here’ and I just kept on going,” said Gilmore, who lives by himself and lost the use of his legs in a car crash years ago.

On the third afternoon, a man in a blue pickup truck stopped and called for help. Gilmore said doctors told him his body temperature was 94 when he was found.

“I don’t think I would have made it another night,” he said.

In a separate article, the Daily News reported that it was Wilfred Sisco who saved Gilmore when he stopped last Thursday on the side of Tocito Road.

Gilmore filed a report with Shiprock police. No officials at the department after hours Tuesday could confirm details of the report. The newspaper noted how Gilmore described those who abandoned him as a Native American couple. The man is in his mid-20s with a cursive tattoo on his neck; the woman is in her mid-40s and heavyset.

Gilmore said he’s bandaged up “big time” and morphine is helping with the pain. Still, he had a nightmare Monday night in which he found himself sitting at the edge of a freeway waving his hands at the passing traffic, but no one looked at him.

His plan is simple for when he gets released from the hospital: “Go home and pray, take inventory and just get a good night sleep in my own bed and heal.”

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Comments (42)

punyhuman
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 2:37am
Onikaze, claptrap. Philosophical drivel. If evil is removed, you have pure good. If you take the impurities out of a steak, you have pure steak. If you take the impurities out of air, you have clean air. If you take the evil out of the world, you have a good world.

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- chalkdust
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 4:52am
  No, it’s not philosophical drivel. It’s self evident truth. Without good you would not know what bad is. Without darkness you would not know what light is.
  
  Immature
  
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- punyhuman
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 2:28pm
  Malarky. Evil is self serving and not needed for anything good. That’s self evident. Why do I need evil to know what good is? Don’t confuse evil with bad things that happen. If I cut my self while preparing dinner, that’s a bad thing. Evil is if I cut someone else while preparing dinner, that’s evil. If someone falls off a roof or a ladder and gets injured, that’s a bad thing, not evil. If they are pushed or thrown off, that’s evil, not needed. You don’t need evil to see good. If one sees a beautiful woman, that’s good. If they marry, that’s even better. But you don’t need evil to see the beauty of the woman [or man if one is a woman] Evil is simply eil, and you don’t need it to see good.
  
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3-Blue
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 2:39pm
Good ol’ New Mexico. Why am I not surprised?

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Grannie4news
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 2:28pm
Don’t judge a man until you have walked in his moccasins. Judge not, lest ye be judged. In other words be nice.

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- Lothmar
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 4:24pm
  You do realize he cant wak right?
  
  Or are you asking him to tread his wheelchair in moccasins, or maybe just drag himself a couple miles with a pair on?
  
  Report this comment
billy1970
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 2:11pm
It said Man “Thrown” in NM Desert, maybe “Stranded” is more appropriate.

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Mainer forever
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 12:20pm
Wow!!! What a sad story. Can u even imagine his ordeal? And to have not one, but two people pass by and do NOTHING!!!…..Unbelievable!!!

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- manandwolf
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 12:55pm
  welcome to the rez!! i lived innm for 20yrs and am familar with not only the area this poor man was in but also the type of people you find out there. Reservations are awful places, third world really. most have no cell service and law enforcement is a joke. the navajo nation has one jail with so few cells that 95 % of criminals are released without bail or charges regularly dropped just to make room for another drunk. They drink scope in shiprock, and ive seen natives drink hairspray!! they need to become part of this country and integrate. i know the drug cartels operate heavily in the reservations due to lack of enforcement and many poor enough to assist.
  
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jungle J
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 11:05am
bull oney.

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OniKaze
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 10:32am
I am glad this man is okay, whether his story is true or not…. Losing the gift of his legs is bad enough, he deserves a break just based on that…

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John-Mary
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 10:21am
Sorry, as it’s reported, I don’t believe Gilmore’s story.

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- txannie
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 10:51am
  You’ve got to know the area and the people that live there. Unfortunately, there is a real problem with alchohol on the res and it’s not all that unusual to see a drunk man or woman sitting or crawling waving at anyone to stop and help them get home because they are so drunk the can’t even stand. Believe it or not, I don’t care. Been there, seen it too many times.
  
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- AnAmericanToo
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 12:59pm
  Then you have never been to the Navajo Nation and observed people hitchhiking. Hitch hikers — young, old, disabled. I could see this man inviting people to his home for dinner — its remote, its the polite thing to do, and people are lonely. He went for a joy ride — not uncommon for this to take place.
  
  No one used a cell phone to call for help — not everyone has a cell phone.
  
  Report this comment
- DneprCowboy
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:55pm
  You obviously don’t know much about New Mexico.
  
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RRFlyer
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 10:12am
I always run down people who are skeptical of these type stories, but now I’m joining them.

Things I find weird:
A man in a wheelchair hitchhiking.
It says he took them to His home and fed them steaks.
Then went with them on a joyride?
Why did he bring alcohol if he wasn’t going to share? If he didn’t trust them to drink why did he go with them?
And in this day and age people passing by without stopping or even calling 911?
And the police can’t confirm his story

I don’t doubt he crawled for two days, but I’m not sure of the rest of his story.

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- JimL
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 10:21am
  Alcohol
  
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- Duddio
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 11:15am
  Wait… he can afford to feed strangers steaks, but not share his booze? =/
  
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sizzlinsexybeckster
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:54am
This man was goodhearted and had the old-fashioned thinking from when a handshake meant something. He thought these people were the same, apparently not. Glad he made it alive and kept going. The problem is… there are too many people in this world and in this country who “just keep driving by” and never stop to help a fellow human being. Glad one man finally did. The people who left him out there are disgusting. Unfortunately this is one reason why God may just let Obama win. There are too many people out there who need to be taught a lesson because love and just plain decency is, well, hard to find. People take things for granted, take people for granted… and my neighbors suck…. hey, I may as well throw them into the boiling pot. If Obama wins, then let these naughty people get what they deserve…. they do need to learn a lesson. Some people have never reached rock bottom and learn nothing… they are selfish gross individuals. As long as the smart good people are prepared for anything the future may bring, we can group together, take care of each other and we can watch these people cry in terror over a broken fingernail or losing their homes… maybe then they will be nice. This may be what we need because I’m tired of losers treating others without kindness… there is way too much of that and I see it everyday out in this crappy neighborhood. I would have stopped for that guy.

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- JimL
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 10:24am
  So the young lawyer who asked, “Who is my neighbor? should vote for ?
  
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666Sucks
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:39am
When God is removed, evil fills the void!

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- OniKaze
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 10:31am
  Never forget that Evil must exist in order for good to have any meaning…. Balance is the key to existence… You can’t have one without the other… Two sides of the same coin, and all that…
  
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- JimL
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 11:35am
  why capitilize E and not g?
  
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- punyhuman
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 2:03am
  How does anyone know what living in pure goodness is like? Ever try it? I know I don’t need evil in my life, but since it’s everywhere, I don’t have any choice but to accept that it’s in my life. But i don’t accept that you have to have evil to live. [hey that's a semordnilap; live/evil] That goes against logic. Nobody’s ever had a life free of evil. In fact, one would think that life is probably much better with no evil. I can hardly wait to try it.
  
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- punyhuman
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 3:34pm
  Evil balances nothing. It serves its own selfish purpose. What it does accomplish is the cancelling out of any good that is done. War is evil, and cancels out life and prosperity. Poverty is evil and cancels out life and prosperity. Sickness and ill health are evil and cancel out well being and good health. None of these evils are necessary. The fact that we’re in a world that is infested and controlled by evil doesn’t balance out the good, it is an attempt to cancel it out. Evil wasn’t always here, and won’t always be here.
  Declaring that evil is necessary to balance out good is rubbish, and is evil in itself. There should be no defense of evil if a person wants to do good. Is there a problem if a person who does good and knows no evil chooses to not know evil at all?
  
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Proverbs17-12NLT
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:35am
Good thing he wasn’t a Quadriplegic

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- 4truth2all
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:59am
  Good thing somebody helped him … says the bear …
  
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- OlderCowGirl
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 10:53pm
  I too noticed that the title of the article said “Parapelegic man thrown…” and also noticed that he was holding up his jeans with 2 hands.
  
  Blaze…love ya…but get a better grip on your writers. No need to distort.
  
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willingtoupe
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:35am
This is a all American classical tale. The struggles and striving for the American dream. A place where people care for each other for the great of good because we as Americans are strong when we stand together.

But there is one man that can stand ( rather sit ) by this victim, and declare and fullfill revenge against life itself and that is Scott Johnson. This man has conquered the great sunshine state of Californina and struck more that any goldmine ever discovered out there. Now if brought in to New Mexico as an attorney, he can create an oasis of wealth in the middle ofhe New Mexican desert for not complying with the rules and conditions met for any paralegic at any given time and place. Somebody owes it to someone and because somebody needs to pay.

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luke9.54_56
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:33am
The fact that this happened in New Mexico is not coincidental…we moved to New Mexico ten months ago, because it was the only place there was a job…we moved from Northern Virginia, Fairfax County….a mixed county with plenty of foreign tongues, black and HIspanics…

I never saw raw racism as deadly as I see here…the Native Americans hate the white man AND they hate the Hispanics…AND THEY HATE ONE ANOTHER!!!

Hispanics all claim they are of Spanish descent, and that they were here before the “illegal” Mexicans…(uh, the Mexicans were here before the Spaniards) and the Hispanics hate the Native Americans AND whitey…SINCE this is THEIR LAND, so they basically control all of the streams and water rights, keeping the lion’s share for themselves.

The Native Americans are so full of hate and racist ideas living in the past, the Hispanics hatred is based on the past, and whitey is INCREDIBLY discriminated against everywhere in Taos…

There are no blacks or muslims here…they seem to know better. I am talking about Taos County, where just about everyone, including whitey, is on welfare and food stamps and disability (yes, all three.)

Trying to get everyone to work together on the job is a full time job in itself. Everyone has a gun…and I am glad this fellow was not shot for his alcohol. I wish we had a fund to help him get a new wheelchair, but then, SSI disability will pay for that…We wish him well; may hs spirit heal quickly…thanks to hero Wi

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- gryffn
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:49am
  Gee…where to begin. I’m in Albuquerque and we do have Mexicans, Blacks, Jews, Muslims. The Mexicans in the north there, are referred to by local Mexicans here, as Chicanos because of their attitude against being Mexican and calling themselves Spanish/Spaniards.
  And yes, we can open carry. You don’t hear of gunfights at high noon, though. If you don’t like the gun laws, don’t live here.
  
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- txannie
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 10:59am
  I see you’ve been there….try growing up white in that atmosphere.
  
  Report this comment
- DneprCowboy
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 10:01pm
  I hate Taos myself. Worked on that new courthouse and jail all one winter. Couldn’t wait to get laid off! Many parts of NM are a powderkeg of racial tension just ready to explode. I live on the east central plains of NM and it’s a whole different world. A little backward and isolated, but a MUCH nicer place to live. When in Taos, mind your own business, always be aware of what’s going on around you, and pack heat.
  
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LolaB
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:28am
I am a woman and would never have picked him up…for safety reasons and also how would I physically get him into my car…but I most certainly would have called 911. People are becoming more hateful and yes I agree with SaturdaysWarrior76…it has gotten bad under Obama…Obama is sooooo nasty that I feel it truly trickles down from him. He is a con and needs to be eliminated on November 6.

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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:19am
Thank you God for bringing him back alive.

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SaturdaysWarrior76
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:06am
What the heck is wrong with people?? And seriously… motorists just passed him by? I know there are far more GOOD people out there, than bad… but still.. stories like this are upsetting. And maybe I’m wrong but it seems as if more and more of this kind of thing happening since O took office? It’s like people have lost their minds! :(

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- JimL
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:33am
  Distracted Samaritans
  
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- politicianssuck
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:41am
  Not being from that area I could see how you would think that. Problem is that the rez. is like old mexico. The people are poverty stricken and the gangs are rampant i that area. The alcohol and drugs are very bad as well. So bad that they have banned selling mouthwash to some people because they drink it in order to get drunk. People like that are all over the place and they are called whino’s. They hang out in allyways, sleep on the curb and against light poles. This man was probobly thought of as a wino and people looked away because it is so common. At the very least they should have called 911. But stopping to help in that area can get you killed. There is racism, gangs drugs and alcohol that runs rampant on the rez so be cautious. It’s unfortunate but it’s reality.
  
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- teebubba
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 3:00pm
  This is why they used to hang people for stealing a horse.
  
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mikem1969
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:57am
Word to the wise, DON’T HITHHIKE.

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- Detroit paperboy
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:09am
  Mike, do you have a listhp ? …….HITHHIKE…
  
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- Gonzo
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 10:10am
  Or drink with strangers in the desert.
  
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