Family hopes injured Mount Vernon officer will be moved out of ICU

The family of Officer Mike McClaughry is hopeful he will be transferred out of intensive care at Harborview Medical Center soon, after spending weeks being treated for a gunshot to the head.

In a Facebook update, McClaughry’s daughter said Officer McClaughry keeps his eyes closed but seems to be more aware of his surroundings, acknowledging people when they speak to him.

Related: Officer shot in line of duty hailed as community leader

“My mom will yell ‘Michael!’ and he will jerk his head back and open his eyes a bit so we know he hears her!,” the Facebook post reads. “We’ve asked him to raise his right arm and he will do it most of the time.”

McClaughry is having a tougher time hearing out of his right ear, which is the side of his head where the bullet exited, according to the Facebook post. The biggest concern is the blood clot that is “in his major artery in his head.”

“We are hoping in the next few days that he will be transferred to the next floor up and out of ICU,” the Facebook post reads. “He still isn’t ‘conscience’ in the way you and I are talking back and forth but we know he hears us and does some responding.”

“My mom walked in today [Tuesday] and said ‘how are you doing,’ he actually responded with ‘I’m OK,” which nearly knocked my mom off her rocker.”

McClaughry, 61, was shot while investigating reports of a possible shooting near Laventure Road. He is a father of three and a grandfather. He began working with the Mount Vernon Police Department in 1985.

Ernesto Lee Rivas, 44, is being held on $1 million bail after being charged with the shooting of Officer McClaughry. Two boys, ages 15 and 16, who were in the house with Rivas during a standoff with officers after the shooting, were also charged with attempted first-degree murder in the officer shooting and attempted second-degree murder in connection with another shooting.

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