Chaplain fell at care center before death

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Chaplain fell at care center before death

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jul 1, 2009 13:16:13 EDT

MINNEAPOLIS — A medical examiner's report says the military chaplain gravely wounded in Iraq five years ago suffered head injuries in a fall at his nursing home just before his death.

The Hennepin County medical examiner's report lists the cause of Rev. Tim Vakoc's death as blunt-force head injuries related to a fall. The report did not provide details of the fall at the St. Therese Care Center in New Hope.

The priest's brother, Jeff Vakoc, says the death is still under investigation.

The 49-year-old priest died June 20 at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale. He was the first military chaplain to be seriously wounded in the Iraq war. He suffered brain damage and the loss of an eye when a roadside bomb exploded in 2004.

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In this 2006 photo, the Rev. Tim Vakoc, center, prays with his mother Phyllis, left, and father Henry at the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis. Vakoc was gravely wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2004.

Richard Marshall / Pioneer Press via AP In this 2006 photo, the Rev. Tim Vakoc, center, prays with his mother Phyllis, left, and father Henry at the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis. Vakoc was gravely wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2004.

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