EDGEWOOD, KY (October 18, 2011) – Associated Press photojournalist Ed Reinke, 60, has been moved from St. Elizabeth Edgewood Hospital to a local hospice center this week, according to family members and friends, in the aftermath of an October 2 incident at the Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, KY, that has left him in a coma.
Based in Louisville for the AP, Reinke was on assignment covering the IZOD Kentucky Indy 300 at the Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, KY, when he was stricken. Initial reports circulated saying that Reinke fell 10 to 12 feet from a ladder or photographers' platform and struck his head. But according to his friends, the more they've learned about the circumstances the less likely it appears that he fell from any substantial height. No eye witnesses actually saw Reinke hit the ground, one of his long-time friends told News Photographer magazine, and he had only one small external injury, a forehead cut which quickly healed.
Reinke was also still wearing his undamaged photography gear when he was discovered, which showed no signs of impact from a fall of remarkable distance. And lacking witnesses, no one knows what really happened – whether he tripped, or had a medical episode that caused him to fall, or some other accident happened that left him incapacitated and on the ground.
Since that day Reinke has experienced several medical set-backs in the hospital, including internal bleeding in the brain and at least two instances where doctors revived his heart and breathing, according to eMail updates provided by his family to a circle of friends and coworkers. He was on a ventilator to help with his breathing during recovery, friends said, but he has since been removed from the device and is resting and breathing well on his own.
Well known across the country, Reinke's friends started a Facebook page so they can stay abreast of his condition. It is online at www.facebook.com/groups/toedreinke/.
After college at Indiana University in Bloomington, Reinke was a staff photographer at The Cincinnati Enquirer before joining AP in Cincinnati in 1980. He then transferred to the AP bureau in Washington, DC, for a while before returning to the Enquirer. When AP opened a bureau in Louisville, Reinke rejoined the AP in the new post.
Reinke's family have been posting updates, mostly from his oldest son Wilson, a doctor in his final year of medical training in Louisville, and younger son Graham. Reinke is married to Tori Reinke, and they live on a farm in rural Kentucky about halfway between Cincinnati and Louisville.
