Jan. 04--NORFOLK -- A police recruit who was knocked down during defensive tactics training was taken to a hospital and diagnosed with a mild concussion, the department said Tuesday.
The injury happened last Wednesday when the recruit was knocked on his buttocks, department spokesman Chris Amos said. He was not hit in the head, Amos said.
He was released from Sentara Leigh Hospital and will not be involved in physical contact activity for a few weeks, Amos said.
The department has been under scrutiny since John Kohn, a 40-year-old recruit, died in December 2010 after numerous blows to his head from instructors during defensive tactics training, as well as a collision with another recruit.
A civil lawsuit filed by Kohn's widow that is pending in Norfolk Circuit Court alleges that head blows by instructors caused Kohn to suffer a fatal brain hemorrhage.
The Police Department made changes to its training after Kohn's death, banning intentional head strikes and requiring additional training for instructors and recruits in identifying and reporting possible injuries.
The instructors who struck Kohn, a sergeant in the Army Reserve, were not disciplined.
That training appears to have helped in last week's case, Amos said.
After the recruit was injured, he was in a bathroom at the training academy on North Military Highway with another recruit when he "spit some water up," Amos said. The recruit was then taken to the hospital.
"The safety protocols that have been implemented worked," Amos said. "This was a recruit and his buddy coming forward."
Dr. Barry Knapp, an emergency physician with Sentara Healthcare and an associate professor with Eastern Virginia Medical School, was part of a panel that recommended training changes for Norfolk police last year.
Since then, Knapp said, he has given training to recruits and instructors, telling them even a minor head injury can result in more severe injury or death if more head impacts follow.
Patrick Wilson, (757) 222-3893, [email protected]
Copyright 2012 - The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.
