Man in coma more than a week after Fremont brawl

A Shoreline man has been in a coma for more than a week at Harborview Medical Center after what police and his family describe as a street fight in which he was punched in the head.

Dustin Wylie, 22, was with another man who had been kicked out of Nectar, a bar in the 400 block of North 36th Street in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood, either late on July 18 or during the early morning of July 19, according to his family.

At 1:59 a.m. on July 19, a number of 911 calls reported six or seven people fighting near the bar, police say.

Wylie and another man were knocked unconscious during the fight. But both were later cleared by medics and told to get further treatment on their own, said Sandy Wylie, the injured man's father.

"My understanding was he was hit once and his head hit the ground," Sandy Wylie said of his son.

Sandy Wylie said the family took Dustin to Northwest Hospital & Medical Center several hours after the fight because he "really didn't know who people were." He was taken to Harborview from there.

At some point, he lapsed into a coma, and he hasn't spoken or even wiggled his fingers and toes since then, his family says.

A spokeswoman for Harborview Medical Center said Wylie remains in the intensive-care unit.

On the night of the fight, witnesses pointed out to police a departing SUV and said two men involved in the fight were inside, according to a Seattle police report.

Police stopped the SUV, and the men gave their version of events, saying three to five men had been waiting for them when they'd emerged from the bar. The two men told police they'd tried to avoid a fight, the report said, and one said he'd injured his hand when he punched one of the suspects.

No arrests have been made. Police spokesman Mark Jamieson said the case has been assigned to the department's homicide unit, which often investigates serious assaults.

"It's a difficult time. We have lots of support from friends, family and the community," Sandy Wylie said. "Every day he looks a little bit better. He's not yet the son I had a week and a half ago."

Dustin Wylie has taken classes at North Seattle Community College and hoped to work in commercial jewelry repair. He was most recently working for a metal-jewelry designer.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com