You are on page 1of 16

September 9, 2005

This is Detective Rick Arnold of the Louisville Metro Police Homicide Unit. This
investigation… This interview is in reference to Investigation, Case #08-197. The time is now
12:25 a.m. The date is September 9, 2008. I'm speaking with Anthony Wood.

Arnold Anthony, if you would, give me your date of


birth.

Wood
Arnold Okay. And give me your home address.

Wood x

Arnold x

Wood x

Arnold x

Wood x

Arnold x

Wood
Arnold Okay, Anthony. Uh, this statement's being
recorded, tape-recorded. Uh, does that meet
with your approval?
Page 2 of 16
Statement: Anthony Wood / Case #08197
Date: September 9, 2008

Wood Yeah.

Arnold And I'm taking this statement in reference to


the events that occurred on August 20, 2008.
Uh, and these events occurred during a
PRP football practice. I take it you're a
football player?

Wood Huh?

Arnold Are you a football player?

Wood Yeah.

Arnold Okay. Were you at practice on August 20,


2008

Wood Yeah.

Arnold Okay. If you would, describe for me the


events, and what happened on that day from
the beginning to the end of practice.

Wood In the game, we got there, and we warmed…


We did, uh, we stretched. And then we went…
And then, uh, I forgot what it's called. It's
where we go off into defense…

Arnold Okay.

Wood Just run through the drills, like run through


plays.

Arnold Okay. Just in separate groups, I guess?

Wood Yeah.

Arnold Okay.
Page 3 of 16
Statement: Anthony Wood / Case #08197
Date: September 9, 2008

Wood And then after that, we done individuals with


our coaches…

Arnold Each coach?

Wood Yeah.

Arnold Okay.

Wood And then we get done doin'… Like in the


middle of that, we get water breaks like…

Arnold In the middle of individual drills?

Wood Yeah. Like whenever our coach gives us water


breaks. We get like two with our position
coach…

Arnold Okay.

Wood …'cause we go pretty hard. Then on our…

Arnold Is that pretty standard. You do that, you get


water breaks during those individual drills
every day, or is that…

Wood Yeah. Yeah.

Arnold And do you get 'em individually or as a group


or as a team?

Wood Uh, we don't get them as a group 'til like near


the very end, like when we're all together.

Arnold Okay.

Wood But, uh, when we're like individual, it's like our
coaches, uh doing the positioning and stuff,
Page 4 of 16
Statement: Anthony Wood / Case #08197
Date: September 9, 2008

he'll give 'em to us.

Arnold Okay.

Wood And then after that, we get the full defense put
together, and then we go over like new plays,
or we go over the plays that we're doin'.

Arnold Is that getting' ready for a game, or…

Wood Like, it's just goin' over the plays so we know


what we're doin';
And so when we're in a game, we don't get
messed up.

Arnold And you did this on, on the 20th of August,


right??

Wood Yeah. Uh…


Arnold
… after individual drills, as far as you can
remember?

Wood Uh, yeah. Then, uh, we go work with Coach


Stenson, and we have seven-on-seven.

Arnold Okay.

Wood And we get water after, like after seven-on-


seven. And then we have everybody come
together, then we do a full, like full practice.

Arnold Okay.

Wood And then, like…

Arnold And then on this date, that's exactly what you


all did?
Page 5 of 16
Statement: Anthony Wood / Case #08197
Date: September 9, 2008

Wood Yeah.

Arnold Okay.

Wood If I can believe, that's all we did.

Arnold Okay. And how many breaks, water breaks did


you take on that day, do you remember?

Wood Uh, let me try to think.

Arnold Yeah. Take your time.

Wood Probably about four or five.

Arnold Okay. Now, when you get to the last water


break, uh, before practice is over…

Wood Yeah.

Arnold What happens right around that time or right


after that? What did practice consist of after
that water break?

Wood After the last water break?

Arnold Uh-huh.

Wood After the last water break, we all go and we'll


run.

Arnold Run.

Wood Yeah. We do gassers.

Arnold Okay. How many did you guys do on this day?

Wood Uh, well, I was countin', and we did like… I


lost track after ten.
Page 6 of 16
Statement: Anthony Wood / Case #08197
Date: September 9, 2008

Arnold Okay.

Wood And probably somewhere… Somebody said


probably around 25 to 30. Like they got, they
got done early, and they were counting, and it's
probably like about 25 to 30, they said.

Arnold Okay. What group did you run with?

Wood Oh, we all run as a team.

Arnold But aren’t there two groups? Don't you break


down into two groups?

Wood Well, yeah. I mean, I run with the little guys.

Arnold Okay.

Wood You have the little guys, and the big guys.

Arnold And so you think that… You, you said you


lost track after ten…

Wood Yeah.

Arnold …But your best estimate is how many, total?

Wood Probably somewhere between, probably about


25 to 30.

Arnold Okay. Good enough.

Wood Yeah.

Arnold Now, is a gasser… Correct me if I'm wrong.


Gasure is up back; up back; from side-to-side.
Side-by-side on the field. Is that correct?
Page 7 of 16
Statement: Anthony Wood / Case #08197
Date: September 9, 2008

Wood Yeah. Up back; up back.

Arnold So you did 25 or 30 of those?

Wood Yeah.

Arnold Okay. And now, is that an abnormal amount to


run a day, or is that more, or is that less than
normal?

Wood It's more.

Arnold More?

Wood Yeah.

Arnold And why were you all, why were you all doin'
so many that day?

Wood Because, uh, coaches got, Coach got mad


'cause nobody was runnin' to the huddle.
Everybody was walkin' and being lazy, and
they were taking knees on the sideline and
stuff. And we just wasn't hustling' and doin'
what we were supposed to do.

Arnold Okay. And that's, that's what you saw


personally?

Wood Yeah. That's what, yeah.

Arnold You know that you guys were being lazy? You
can…

Wood Yeah…

Arnold …say that…

Wood That's what Coach said. Yeah, yeah. We were


Page 8 of 16
Statement: Anthony Wood / Case #08197
Date: September 9, 2008

being lazy.

Arnold Okay.

Wood 'Cause, I mean, everybody was walkin' to the


huddle and stuff.

Arnold Right. Not hustlin' on the field?

Wood Yeah. Like if they'll go out to catch like the


ball the receiver would, then he'd like kind of
walk back, then when he'll get close, he'll jog.

Arnold Yeah. Okay. Did you hear, uh, Coach say


anything else about how many sprints you all
were gonna run or anything?

Wood No.

Arnold Okay.

Wood Well, he… Well, he said like "We're gonna run


until somebody quits."

Arnold And what coach is this?

Wood Stenson.

Arnold Okay. Is he the head coach?

Wood Yeah, uh, yeah.

Arnold Varsity, I guess?

Wood The head coach of, over everybody. Like


above all the other coaches.

Arnold Okay. So he said they're gonna run 'til… Now,


did you hear him say this, or somebody tell
Page 9 of 16
Statement: Anthony Wood / Case #08197
Date: September 9, 2008

you he said that.

Wood That's what he said.

Arnold To the whole team?

Wood Yeah.

Arnold Okay. Did everybody hear that as far as you


know?

Wood I don't know if everybody heard it, but I heard


it.

Arnold Okay. But it should be…

Wood I heard him say it.

Arnold Should they've heard it?

Wood Probably.

Arnold Okay. How many sprints did you run before


you took off any, any equipment?

Wood I honestly don't know that. I wasn't counting.

Arnold Okay. Well, you said you counted to ten. Was


it, was it after that?

Wood Yeah.

Arnold Okay.

Wood It's probably maybe a couple after that.

Arnold That's fine. So it was, but it was definitely


more than ten?
Page 10 of 16
Statement: Anthony Wood / Case #08197
Date: September 9, 2008

Wood Yeah.

Arnold Okay. And how… Do you know after you


took your equipment off… What do you take
off? Is it your helmet and shoulder pads, or
just your…

Wood First, we took off our helmets. The big guys


took their helmets off like first, and they sat
them down, and then we ran one more, and
then took our helmets off.

Arnold Okay.

Wood And then like after that, like we ran a lot, uh, a
couple more, and then we took, uh, our
shoulder pads off.

Arnold Okay. Then how many did you run after that,
do you think?

Wood I don't know that.

Arnold Okay. Uh, what was the total time you think, if
you had to, you know, give an estimate here,
the total amount of time you all spent doin'
gasures, running gassers that day?

Wood Probably, we were like somewhere after 30


minutes, maybe.

Arnold More than 30 minutes?

Wood Yeah.

Arnold And is that a lot for a given day, or…

Wood Yeah.
Page 11 of 16
Statement: Anthony Wood / Case #08197
Date: September 9, 2008

Arnold Okay. But you knew Coach was mad?

Wood Yeah.

Arnold Uh, did you try to take a water break when you
were runnin' during that, during that 30 minute
period?

Wood No.

Arnold Did any of your teammates?

Wood No.

Arnold Did anybody get denied water a water break


during that period?

Wood We, uh, the only time I got denied was, uh,
when we, he, he called for a team meeting like
right after we got done running, and so we're
all underneath like the shade tree to have a
team meeting…

Arnold Yeah.

Wood Maybe like six or seven guys went over to get


water, and he told 'em to come back over there
so we can have a team meeting real quick, then
we can get water right after that.

Arnold Okay. That was the whole team had a meeting


then, right?

Wood Yeah. The whole team did.

Arnold Okay. Did you see anybody get sick during,


during that period?

Wood Uh…
Page 12 of 16
Statement: Anthony Wood / Case #08197
Date: September 9, 2008

Arnold I mean, during the entire sprint period. Gaser


period.

Wood There was like some guys bendin' over and


stuff.

Arnold Some guys bendin' over? Were they throwin'


up or passin' out or anything?

Wood Uh, I don't know if they were throwin' up.

Arnold Okay.

Wood 'Cause they're kind of far… Uh, like they're


down the field.

Arnold Okay.

Wood They're leanin' over.

Arnold Uh, did you get ill during any of it? Cramp up
or get sick or throw up or anything?

Wood No.

Arnold Okay. Uh, who do you know that actually got


sick during that period?

Wood Uh, I don't know any of 'em that got sick. I


mean, I know Callo… I think it was the kid
that had, uh, the breathing problem. Uh, I don't
remember his name. But I know he had the
breathing… He like was breathing really hard.

Arnold Okay. Did he pass out or anything?

Wood No.
Page 13 of 16
Statement: Anthony Wood / Case #08197
Date: September 9, 2008

Arnold And it's hard… I realize all that 'cause you're


worried about just getting' through it, I'm sure.
So…

Wood Yeah.

Arnold Uh, what, when, when did he start havin'g this


breathing problem, whoever this kid was?

Wood Uh, probably when we got like, when we were


halfway. Like doin'g the sprints. And they
took him over there to get some water.

Arnold Anybody else?

Wood Uh-uh.

Arnold What about when Max got sick? Did you see
him get sick?

Wood Uh, I seen, uh, whenever he fell down.

Arnold You saw him fall?

Wood Yeah. They said, uh, he fell down the first


time, and then like got back up and ran one
more.

Arnold Did you se that?

Wood No. That's what, uh, some people said…

Arnold Okay.

Wood …I didn't see it.

Arnold Well, did you see him fall down the second
time?
Page 14 of 16
Statement: Anthony Wood / Case #08197
Date: September 9, 2008

Wood Yeah. I seen it; 'cause, uh… Well, 'cause, uh,


the li'le guys got done first, so we're joggin'
onto the side…

Arnold Okay.

Wood …and I seen 'im fall down.

Arnold Then, was he conscious, or do you know?

Wood Uh, no. 'Cause I didn't walk over there and


look.

Arnold Okay. All right, good. Uh, during any


practices this year, have you personally seen or
heard of any teammates being injured or
quitting the team?

Wood Uh, no.

Arnold No body has quit that you know of?

Wood That quit… Like some kids… Like, I know


one kid that quit 'cause his, he was like far out,
but, uh, the only reason why he quit was 'cause
his dad told him to 'cause…

Arnold Okay. You know his name?

Wood It’s, Josh Gilpin. 'Cause his dad couldn't drive


out here every day.

Arnold Is he any relation to Max?


Wood
Uh-uh. He's a freshman. That's about all.

Arnold Are you, what year are you?

Wood I'm a sophomore.


Page 15 of 16
Statement: Anthony Wood / Case #08197
Date: September 9, 2008

Arnold Okay. Was he there on that day? This Josh


Gilpin before? Did he quit before or after?

Wood Uh, before.

Arnold Okay. Okay. He wasn't there that day, then.

Wood No.

Arnold Has anybody influenced you in any way to


withhold information or change any of the
facts that, that happened that day?

Wood No.

Arnold You all haven't had any team meetings where


anybody said, "Don't…"

Wood No.

Arnold "…don't say anything to the police or the


media or anybody else?"

Wood I mean, Coach Stenson said to, not to talked to


the media…

Arnold Okay.

Wood 'cause they'll try to change your story, or


whatever.

Arnold Yeah.

Wood …or whatever he said. But he told us to talk…


Whenever we talk to y'all, just tell y'all the
truth and…

Arnold Good.
Page 16 of 16
Statement: Anthony Wood / Case #08197
Date: September 9, 2008

Wood …and whatever happens.

Arnold Okay. Good. But, yeah, he had mentioned not


to speak to the media, and that's a good idea,
so…

Wood Yeah.

Arnold Good. Okay. Uh, is everything you're telling


me truthful?

Wood Yeah.

Arnold And do you have anything you wanta add, or


anything else you wanta tell me about?

Wood No.

Arnold Okay, Anthony. Uh, that will conclude this


statement. The ending time is 12:37 hours.

END OF STATEMENT

File #08197arnold-jj

You might also like