Medical examiner: Man was murdered

The death of a Cookeville resident, the family of whom has alleged was a result of excessive use of force by a group of Lebanon police officers, was, in fact, a homicide, the Metro medical examiner has ruled. Dr. Bruce Levy Wednesday released the results of his autopsy on Walter Kuntz, who died Jan. 14 after being hospitalized for severe head injuries.

Kuntz was apprehended two days prior to his death by Lebanon police officers at a Wilson County gas station for fleeing the scene of a traffic accident. "I've determined that the cause of Mr. Kuntz death was blunt force injuries to the head and the torso, and that the manner of death was a homicide," Levy said. It was very clear from my investigation that the pattern of the injuries that he sustained were consistent with injuries that were inflicted on him rather than injuries that were self-inflicted. Levy said, "However, that he could not determine from his examination what kind of surface or instrument was used to inflict the injuries, and could not say for sure whether Kuntz was, in fact, assaulted by the police officers. I know he was assaulted by somebody," Levy said. "I don't know who that is. Members of Kuntz family, however, expressed more certainty. We know now it was a murder, a homicide, at the hands of the law enforcement agency," said Tonya Thompson, Kuntz sister. This clarifies it for everybody.

The Kuntz family filed suit shortly after his death against the Lebanon police department and two officers, Andrew Parrish and Derrick Way, charging that Kuntz died as a result of the officers use of excessive force during his arrest. The suit claims that the two officers administered a sobriety test to Kuntz after apprehending him, which he failed, and then slammed his head into the police car and beat him. Levy said that, while Kuntz injuries could have been sustained prior to his apprehension by authorities, it is unlikely that that is the case. While Levy said he had viewed a police videotape of Kuntz arrest, he would not comment on whether he could tell if officers used excessive force during the arrest. "I would say that you're looking at a fixed video at one point in space, so you obviously cant see everything thats going on," Levy said. Attorney Blair Durham, who represents the Kuntz family in the case, said Lebanon police claim the police videotape of the incident would exonerate them of any wrongdoing, and would show instead that Kuntz was resisting arrest. Durham, however, claims that 16 videotaped eyewitness accounts of the incident, which occurred in the parking lot of an Exxon Tiger Market near I-40 in Wilson County, tell a consistent and very different story of police brutality.

"Some [witnesses] made verbal outcries at witnessing the assault, and others had to turn away because they couldn't watch anymore," Durham said in January. "Both the police videotape and the eyewitness accounts are being used in investigations by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation," said Wilson County District Attorney Tommy Thompson. Thompson, who is heading the investigation, also noted that he was not entirely surprised by the results of Levys autopsy. This autopsy report is a very small part of an investigation that has been going on since Jan. 13, Thompson said, noting that he and investigators have received full cooperation by members of the Lebanon Police Department and the Wilson County Sheriffs office. While attorney Bart Durham said he hoped to have the results of the investigation within two weeks, Thompson said it could be 30 to 40 days before the investigation is complete.

By Amanda Wardle

From The Nashville City Paper, Nashville, TN, USA