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~STATEMENT OF :bELDON SAPP ~12/09/10,

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THIS WILL BE THE RECORDED STATEMENT ~ELDON SAPP, INVESTIGATOR WITH THE GANG SUPPRESSION UNIT, DEFENSIVE TACTICS INSTRUCTOR, AS GIVEN TO INVESTIGATORS C. A. MOORE AND J.. H. SMITH AT THE NORFOLK POLICE TRAINING CENTER ON DECEMBER 9TH, 2010, AT 2023 HOURS. THIS WILL BE IN REFERENCE TO THE ACCIDENTAL INJURY OF RECRUIT KOHN WHICH OCCURRED EARLIER THE SAME DAY AT THE POLICE TRAINING CENTER.

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9 BY INVESTIGATOR MOORE:

Q.

Investigator Sapp, can you please state your first,

11 m.i dd.Le j and last name and spell each one?

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A.

First name is Leldon, L-e-I-d-o-n; middle name Dion,

13 D-i-o-n; last name Sapp, S-a-p-p.

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Q.

Okay , And what's your current job title?

A.

I'm an investigator with a Gang Suppression Unit.

Q.

And you're also a defensive tactics instructor?

A.

That's correct.

Q.

How long have the recruits been in defensive tactics?

They started on Monday this week and this is their. fourth

20 day.

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Q.

Okay. You had an opportunity to have an evolution,

22 training evolution, with a recruit by the name of John Kohn?

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A.

Yes.

Q.

Can you describe what happened during that evolution?

A.

It was a ground -- we were doing ground fighting today.

NORFOLK POLICE DEPARTMENT -HOMICIDE SECTION

10 throughout the day?

12 third one that I went against.

14 evolution with Recruit Kohn?

16 the ground, laid. on his back; I got into his guard.

17 Iris t ruc t.o.r -- Investigator White told him to prepare yourself.

18 At that .time that was the sign for me to go.

19 So initially right off the bat I hit him with the· right

20 hand to his caged helmet that he wears. All the recruits where

21 protective gear fqr this training and a mouthpiece. The head

22 gear has an actual metal cage in front of it and it wraps

23 around the head to protect their face and a mouthpiece is also.

24 worn during this evolution. He w~s struck in the face once.

25 The subject head popped back. Then I hit him two or three more

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. , dTATEMENT OF LELDON SAPP ... 2/09/10

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2 point we were in a testing mode where the recruit would run

1 It was all day. We trained ground fighting defense and at this

3 into the classroom, the DT room" get on his back, get into the

4 guard position, and the instructor would attempt to punch the .

5 recruit and try tb take the -- or tak~ the recruit's gun and it

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was up to the recruit to defend himself and to either reverse
the si. tuation, place the subject into a submission hold, or
hold enough until he can get to back up.
Q. Okay. You had this evolution' with several recruits 7

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A.

Correct. He was maybe the first -- actually the second or

Q.

Okay. Can you describe what happened during this specific

A.

I was the suspect for the scenario. Recruit Kohn got on

NORFOL~ POLICE DEPARTMENT - HOMICIDE SECTION

9 little bit. So I had the recruits bring him back in.

11 were talking to him so we slid him against the wall. He was

. 12 actually ~p and awake looking at us and then somebody noticed 13 that he was not doing too well so they called for EMS.

15 the instructors that he was having problems with dizziness or

16 any type of injuries during this defensive tactics week?

18 break, I ask if anybody has any injuries, anybody has any

19 ·questions. At the end of the day I ask them if anybody has any

.20 injuries or any questions, and every day I had no response from

21 any recruit during these four days.

23 recruits and specifically Recrriit Kohn was wearing.

25 a hockey mask per se, but it's caged where you can actually see

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L 3TATEMENTOF LELDON SAPP (._· ... 2/09/10

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1 times before he started to.do things.

2 Investigator white and myself saw that -the recruit was not

3 res~onding very well. So we stopped the scenario. At that

4 time he' got up. He tried to walk out the door. I told him to

5 come back inside. He was kind of a lit~le woozy. So we had

6 him come back into the room. I told the recruits to go get

7 hirr'l, to grab him because he was not looking right as far as

8 wasn't looking right as far as, you know, he was stumbling a

He sat down on the mat and was still not coherent. We

Q.

To your knowledge has Recruit Kohn made any -- told any of

A.

No, every day that I put them on break as far as on lunch

Q.

And describe again what type of protective gear all the

A.

The protective gear is the face cage, plastic kind of like

NORFOLK POLICE DEPARTMENT - HOMICIDE SECTION

L:3TATEMENT OF LELDON SAPP·~ ... 2/09/10

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lout of it. It's not a glass, it's like an actual cage and the

2 helmet is a protective foam that they put around their head.

6 room at the time of this incident?

8 Tessier, Officer Bailey, Lieutenant Pratt, Hlebinsky, Officer

9 Hlebii1sky, and Officer Morlang and Officer Reardon.

12 BY INVESTIGATOR SMITH:

15 himself, making sure that if -- and also to make sure that if

16 the recruit does a technique that we showed them, that we're

17 also covered as well so he's watching for the benefit of the

18 instructor and also for the recruit and he's going to stop when

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Q.

What type of gear, if any, were you wearing?

A.

I had a boxing glove on and that's it.

Q.

Okay. How many instructors were present in the training

A.

Myself, Investigator White, Sergeant Jackson, Officer

Q.

Of those do you know who, if anyone, were safety officers?

A.

Officer White was the safety officer for my specific spot.

Q.

Could you describe what a safety officer is?

A.

They make sure that the recruit is intelligently defending

19 he thinks that either, A, the recruit is doing a good technique

20 or, B, not doing a good technique and not being able to defend

21 himself properly and stop it so that they can be safe during

22 the scenario.

23 Q. And then how long would you say after you guys realized

24 there was an issue that PRS was called tb --

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A.

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Didn't take long. Once he started looking really bad I

NORFOLK POLICE DEPARTMENT - HOMICIDE SECTION

10 inside into the classroom, to the DT room, and then take their

11 shoes off and then get on the mat, and,then we do the scenario.

12 During this evolution Kohn had gone through the scenario and

13 did not pass. So at that time they took him or they told him 14 that he ,had to go redo the scenario. So he's putting his

15 grabbing his shoes, putting them on or whatever, and he starts

G 3TATEMENT OF LELDON SAPpL .J.2/09/10

1 think ~ieutenant Pratt actually called to get EMS out there,

2 maybe ten seconds. I don't know, not very long after he

3 realiiedthe se~erity of his issues.

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Q.

Now, did you see the collision with him and Recruit

5 Johnson?

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A.

Yes.

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Q.

Describe that.

A.

During the scenarios the recruits, we had fwo rec~uits

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9 running at a time, run down from the bleachers outside, come

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17 At that time we had already sent two recruits down to come

18 into the classroom" to perform DTs. At that time, that's when

19 Recruit Kohn and the other recruit smashed into each other.

20 Both of them had their helmets on. The Recruit Johnson came in

21 and was going to go through the scenario with me, do the ground

22 techniques, but you know, he said that he was dizzy and we told

23 him to stop and wait because we didn't want him to go until he

24 felt like he was ready since he did have a collision with

25 Recruit Kohn.

NORFOLK POLICE DEPARTMENT - HOMICIDE SECTION

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'- STATEMENT OF LELDON SAPP ~.L2/09/10

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Q.

Okay,

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2 BY INVESTIGATOR MOORE:

3 Q .. Anything else you wish to add to this statement?

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5 Q.
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Everything you told us today. been the truth?

Yes.

And has anybody threat~nedr promised, forced you anything

8 in order to have you come talk to us?

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A.

No.

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STATEMENT WILL END AT ·2031 HOURS ON 12/09/10.

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A. Moore

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211J-/JDII V Ii 137/ Oda -bVf. O}"i5('o~ DATE/TI /LOCATION

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NORFOLK POLICE DEPARTMENT - HOMICIDE SECTION