KIRKLAND, Wash. (Oct. 20, 2005) -- Seattle Seahawks safety Ken Hamlin, severely beaten outside a Seattle nightclub, was moved out intensive care and into a private room, the player's representative told a newspaper.
The representative, Joel Anderson of Capital Sports & Entertainment, told The Herald of Everett in an e-mail that the player had been moved, but he didn't know whether doctors had upgraded the safety's condition from serious but stable, the description provided since Hamlin suffered a fractured skull and a blood clot near the left side of his brain in the assault early Oct. 17.
The Harborview Medical Center was not releasing any information on Hamlin.
"It is good to know that he is heading in the right direction, and we can focus on what we need to focus on," quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said after a team meeting in which coach Mike Holmgren told players that Hamlin seemed to be improving.
Hasselbeck was mindful of Seattle's upcoming game Oct. 23 with fellow NFC division leader Dallas at Qwest Field.
Holmgren's meeting included an unusual edict.
The coach said all Seahawks players and coaches are now prohibited from entering Pioneer Square, the historic Seattle bar and restaurant district just north of Qwest Field. Hamlin was assaulted outside a nightclub there.
Holmgren, an NFL head coach for the last 14 years, said he had never declared places off-limits to his players before. He added that he knows of at least two players who were with Hamlin at Larry's Nightclub and that he and the team's chief of security, Rick Ninomiya, have talked to those players. Holmgren would not identify them or characterize what was discussed.
"The players were very forthcoming," Holmgren said. "All that stuff will come out at the proper time."
As to the Pioneer Square restriction, Holmgren, a father of four girls, told his usual midweek news conference, "It's like dealing with your own kids in some respect. You want to trust them ...
"We didn't have a 'hit list' of places not to go. However, I did talk to the team this morning about staying away from that area down there ... This wasn't an isolated incident down in that neck of the woods."
Star running back Shaun Alexander said Holmgren's new rule "is wise."
Seahawk Marquand Manuel, who will replace Hamlin as starting free safety against Dallas, said he has had coaches tell players to avoid certain parts of a town.
"In college, yes," said the 26-year-old former University of Florida player. "It's just one of those things, unfortunately."
Holmgren said the team is not aware of any connection between Hamlin's assault and the shooting death of a man found in a Seattle park three hours later and 5½ miles southwest of the nightclub, although police continued to investigate that possibility.
"We're still looking into the possibility, following all the leads, interviewing the witnesses, doing the things detectives do to try to break a case," Seattle police spokeswoman Debra Brown said.
A jogger found the body of Terrell Milam, 31, near a park at about 5 a.m. on Oct. 17. Tramaine Isabell, who identified himself as Milam's brother, said he recognized Milam from the security video of the scene outside the nightclub.
Holmgren said he wasn't assuming Hamlin, who has started 35 of 37 career games for the Seahawks since they drafted him in 2003, would miss the final 10 games of the regular season.
"I'm not going on any assumptions yet, as far as his health goes," Holmgren said. "I just want to take it a step at a time."
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2005, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
