Native bishop insists injuries were accidental

Donald E. Pelotte, the first Native American Bishop in the Catholic Church, is in serious but stable condition after an incident at his home in Gallup, New Mexico.

Pelotte, who is Abenaki from Maine, was discovered bleeding and bruised on July 23. "He looks like he got beat up," Deacon Timoteo Lujan, who found the bishop, told The Gallup Independent.

Lujan doesn't know what happened to Pelotte, who suffered traumatic brain injury Gallup Police Officer Edwin Yazzie asked Pelotte more than once whether the injuries were the result of an assault but Pelotte said they weren't [Police Report]

Based on Pelotte's remarks, the Gallup police department is not investigating the incident. But Lujan said Pelotte may have been in a confused state due to his injuries. "I was very alarmed," Lujan told the paper. "I didn't know what to expect."

Pelotte is being treated at John C. Lincoln Hospital in Phoenix.

Get the Story:
What caused Pelotte's injury? (The Gallup Independent 7/30)

$rl Diocese of Gallup - http://www.dioceseofgallup.org