Brutality Victim Back In Critical Condition

The medical condition of Abner Louima, the Haitian immigrant who has said he was brutalized by police officers in a Brooklyn precinct house, took a sharp turn for the worse on Thursday, and he was to undergo further surgery Thursday night.

After Louima spent Wednesday night vomiting and suffering intense abdominal pain, Brooklyn Hospital changed his condition report from stable to critical. A member of his circle of advisers said he was “in bad shape.”

At a news conference at the hospital early Thursday evening, Dr. Albert Duncan, the chairman of the department of surgery, said that “right now, it would be hard to speculate on his long-term condition.” One problem doctors were grappling with was a blocked intestine caused by adhesions from the healing of his internal wounds.

Police officers in the 70th Precinct, prosecutors have charged, tortured Louima, 30, in the bathroom of the station house, ramming a wooden stick up his rectum and causing severe internal injuries to his intestines and bladder.

Louima’s faltering condition also put off a longed-for reunion with his daughter, Abnia Samantha, whom he has not seen in the seven years since he fled Haiti.

The child was scheduled to arrive at Kennedy International Airport around 9 p.m. Thursday night, even as Louima was in the operating room.