Pennsylvania man dies of injuries he received 50 years ago

Caution tape.
(Image credit: iStock)

On July 8, 1965, Richard Albright was hit by a car in Allentown, Pennsylvania. On Aug. 24, 2015, he died from his injuries.

Albright was 8 years old when he was struck by a vehicle while walking, The Morning Call reports. Newspaper accounts from the time say he suffered severe head injuries, two broken legs, scrapes, and bruises. Another boy was also hit by the car, but only sustained minor injuries.

While it's relatively rare for someone to die from 50-year-old injuries, it's not completely unprecedented, First Deputy Coroner Eric Minnich told The Morning Call. "We looked pretty far to see the chain of events," he said. "He was a quadriplegic secondary to this pedestrian accident. He was still receiving treatment for injuries received 50 years earlier. This required a lifetime of treatment and basically he was paralyzed. This is something that he never achieved a full recovery from."

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Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.