Tracy Morgan, who was in a horrific car crash in New Jersey this past June, is still struggling to recover. The Saturday Night Live alum and 30 Rock star, who suffered a broken nose, leg, and ribs when a Wal-Mart truck crashed into his limo on the New Jersey Turnpike, might also have sustained permanent brain damage, his lawyer Benedict Morelli said.
"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," Morelli told the Associated Press of Morgan, who is still in a wheelchair. "We're hoping and praying to get him back to where he was. But the jury's out ... 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. 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."
A month after the accident, which killed Morgan's friend and fellow comedian James "Jimmy Mack" McNair, Morgan sued Wal-Mart for carelessness and negligence. The lawsuit states the company should have been aware that the truck driver had been awake for 24 consecutive hours at the time of the crash. Kevin Roper, the driver who is not named in Morgan's lawsuit, has been charged with death by vehicle and four counts of assault by vehicle. He pleaded not guilty.
Wal-Mart initially issued an apology, but in September, the company shifted some of the blame onto the victims, stating, "The plaintiff's injuries, if any, were caused, in whole or in part, by plaintiff's failure to properly wear an appropriate available seat belt restraint device."