The Nation - News from July 26, 1989

Thomas Root, the Washington pilot and communications lawyer whose July 13 shooting and plane flight remain an enigma, unexpectedly checked out of Memorial Hospital in Hollywood, Fla., and is in seclusion with his family, hospital officials and relatives said. Meanwhile, federal investigators said that tests taken shortly after Root’s plane ditched in the Caribbean found no evidence of alcohol or other drugs in Root’s blood. Hospital spokeswoman Linda Hamlin said that doctors approved of Root’s Monday release. Root was recuperating from a gunshot wound to the abdomen that was discovered after his Cessna 210 splashed into the ocean.