As the newest Cincinnati Police recruit class graduates Friday, interim City Manager John Curp says the investigation into the medical emergency suffered by recruit John Brown remains a top priority – and may require bringing outside state review.
Brown, 36, collapsed on Jan. 17 immediately after a training session called "stress inoculation," which is widely used by police departments nationally and in Ohio's police academies. It simulates suspects who refuse to cooperate or become combative.
What happened to police recruit Cincinnati John Brown?
Videos provided by the city show Brown had to participate in a series of five training exercises against five different training officers with little to no break in between.
Brown was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center for treatment, where he remains, his brother Shaka Bridges told The Enquirer.
Brown has gotten up briefly, nodded and talked a bit, but he's not fully communicating yet, Bridges said.
"We thought we were going to lose him that first weekend," Bridges said. "But now we're hopeful. There is still a long way to go. We've just been praying."
Curp told The Enquirer's "That's So Cincinnati" podcast: "We went through a professional process when this happened. We gathered facts. We have a risk management team and employee safety team in the city. It's a civilian team that would investigate any workplace incident that involves the health of an employee in the city."
These are full-time investigators, who are extremely skilled, Curp said.
"If there's something that falls outside (our) expertise, we'll seek help and in most investigations. We have access to state regulatory entities that look at workplace issues. We're not afraid to ask for expertise and if we don't have it we'll engage those sources."
And, he said: "If we get to the end of the process and we need more information, we'll seek it."
He said the goal is to answer all the questions surrounding the incident and do it in a transparent way.
Curp, who started as interim manager on Jan. 17, joined The Enquirer's "That's So Cincinnati" podcast to talk about how he sees the job of city manager and his view of City Hall since he departed in 2014 shortly after Mayor John Cranley was elected.
A GoFundMe has raised roughly $42,000 of $50,000 requested for Brown and his family.
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