Hot Springs man stabbed, left blind now out of hospital

He hopes transplants will restore sight

— The survivor of a brutal September attack that left his girlfriend stabbed to death is still recovering from his stab injuries and from having acid thrown in his face, which left him blind.

Armen Gaylon Crawford, 42, was stabbed multiple times and his girlfriend, Latisha Pilgrim, 21, was stabbed to death during an attack shortly after 8:30 a.m. Sept. 6 at Crawford’s mobile home at 108 Skyview Terrace off Whittington Avenue.

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Fielding Vaughn Kimery II, 38, was arrested at the scene and later charged with firstdegree murder, punishable by up to life in prison; criminal attempt at first-degree murder, punishable by up to 30 years in prison; and first-degree battery, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Kimery, who lists an address of 106 Ridgeway St., is scheduled for arraignment Monday.

In an interview Thursday, Crawford described Kimery as “an acquaintance.”

Crawford said he and his girlfriend “were both asleep and had acid thrown in our faces.” He said he was stabbed eight to 15 times in his upper body.

He had a deep laceration on his neck, he said, where the attacker “was trying to cut my throat.” His kidney was found in the yard outside his residence. It was later taken to Mercy Hospital in Hot Springs where doctors were able to successfully reattach it. “I’m not even sure who brought it in,” he said.

Crawford said he had to undergo eight hours of emergency surgery, and Dr. Patrick Dolan “put me back together again.” He called Dolan’s work “a miracle.”

Crawford said he didn’t remember much after the attack started and that his neighbors called 911. “They told them there were people laying bleeding in the yard, and I finally had to talk [to the dispatcher] myself to get them to come.”

According to Hot Springs police reports, officers responded to a report of a fight, and found Crawford and Pilgrim outside the residence, both with multiple stab wounds. They noted that Kimery was also at the scene, sitting on the steps outside and did not appear to have any injuries.

Pilgrim was pronounced dead at the scene by Garland County Coroner Stuart Smedley, and the report notes that she had multiple stab wounds and her left arm was “nearly severed.”

Crawford said he didn’t find out that she had died until almost three weeks later because hospital personnel kept him sedated.

After his initial surgery at Mercy, he contracted pneumonia and was airlifted to UAMS Medical Center in Little Rock where doctors were able to “clear up the pneumonia.”

He said that at one point, doctors were moving a feeding tube from his nose to his stomach and there was a complication that almost killed him.

“They called my family because they didn’t think I was going to make it through the night,” he said.

He noted that his body weight dropped from 170 pounds to 126, but he eventually improved enough to be moved back to Mercy.

He said he has been out of the hospital about two weeks, and “I’m feeling great. Really great. Still have some aches and pains, and I had PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] right after.”

Crawford said he had “bad nightmares and night terrors” about the attack, but “I’m sleeping normally now.”

The acid injured both eyes, and he has learned that his left eye “is not getting better.” He said he has partial vision in the right eye, but he will be getting a double-cornea transplant soon.

“The corneas were so badly burned I won’t get my sight back naturally,” he said.

He said he is being treated at the Jones Eye Institute in Little Rock and has an appointment to get a cornea transplant soon in his left eye, which he noted, “might not be a permanent one. They’re going to see how it does. It could be rejected. But they have to put one in because my cornea is getting thinner and thinner.”

He hopes that with the cornea transplants, “I will be able to see again someday.”

Crawford said he is wearing a yellow wristband that Pilgrim’s mother gave him that says “Peace,” and he is “just trying to make it one day at a time.”

Arkansas, Pages 18 on 11/18/2012

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