Chief discusses police recruit's death

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - A Norfolk police recruit's death was discussed at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. Police recruit John Kohn died following defensive tactics training December 9.

The news conference was held at City Hall at 1 p.m. WAVY.com's Andy Fox was there and will bring you the very latest on the what was said coming up tonight on WAVY News 10 beginning at 5 p.m.

Kohn was taken to the hospital after Defensive Tactics Training on December 9. He died on December 18 from what the family says was a massive brain injury they said Kohn received during training.

The news conference will be vital for the City to finally clear up what has become wide spread speculation on cover up. Only one recruit has died out of thousands that have gone through the program, but it's the way the City has handled the information on what happened that has raised suspicion of wrongdoing.

"The family is in deep mourning, and still pretty numb," said Kohn Family Attorney Jim Lewis.

Kohn's family also has great concern on how the City of Norfolk handled his death, suggesting a collision between Kohn and another recruit led to the brain injury that eventually killed him.

"They gave this story of a head butt in the doorway and it took you to find out that is simply not what happened and that is astonishing to me," said Lewis.

WAVY.com found the original Incident/Investigative Report that reads, "The victim and another recruit physically ran into each other accidentally during training." There was no mention of training Kohn had with Instructor Leldon Sapp 11 minutes after the collision. Sapp repeatedly punched Kohn in the head until he was left temporarily motionless on the mat.

There was also no mention of other defensive tactics training two days earlier where Kohn said he felt like he got his bell rung with a likely concussion. Kohn asked fellow Recruit Joseph Plaza who told investigators, "Either Monday or Tuesday...the intense days for DTs [Defensive Tactics]...He [Kohn] just asked me if I ever had a concussion."

It is clear Kohn knew he wasn't feeling right, but pressed on to complete the training. The evidence shows Kohn did not properly inform instructors on his serious condition which he may not have known himself. Medical experts say internal brain injuries are not always immediately known.

The word floated around the department and to Chief Bruce Marquis on December 20 about the cause of death. An e-mail from Ed Ryan, Captain and the Commanding Officer said, "The Medical Examiner has determined that Recruit Kohn's death was accidental, and resulted from head trauma that most likely resulted when the two recruits collided head to head."

We don't know what else the Medical Examiner was told about the other training exercises.

Police Chief Bruce Marquis' Statement on December 21 concerning Kohn's death stated, "What we do know is that two recruits accidentally collided while moving through the doors of the training area... soon after the collision, recruit Kohn exhibited signs of distress."

However, the next day, Senior Assistant Chief Sharon Chamberlin e-mailed Capt. Paul Galligan, "One question will be asked-where was Kohn struck by Sapp" Galligan replied, "In the head."

"I will be very interested to see what everyone else's observations were about his physical and mental condition before and during this exercise," said Lewis.

Finally, Officer Scott Morlang with the Training Unit responded to what had become great concern within the police department in dealing with Kohn's death. He said, "If you feel the need to have an unexpected bowel movement of your mouth be careful on who's around, as well as maybe you should have the whole story and the facts that surround that story."

During Wednesday's news conference, changes to training will be announced.

Included in that will be something WAVY.com first reported on Tuesday - trained medical technicians on sight when hard hitting training takes place. Following Kohn's death, EMT'S had to be called to the scene.

Another change will be a demand to all recruits to absolutely, without fail, inform instructors after any serious head punch that results in dizziness.