By J.J. Stambaugh & Hayes Hickman
Knoxville News-Sentinel
Copyright 2007 Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
All Rights Reserved
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Only three days after his release from prison, an unarmed man died in a busy East Knoxville intersection after he was shocked with a Taser during a confrontation with two police officers.
Kevin DeWayne Hill, 39, a felon with a history of cocaine dealing and other offenses, died after struggling with Knoxville Police Department officers who were responding to a report of an attempted carjacking Tuesday night near the intersection of Magnolia Avenue and Cherry Street, officials said.
Citing a preliminary autopsy report, KPD spokesman Darrell DeBusk said Wednesday that Hill “didn’t die from Taser use or any other action by a police officer but from an unrelated medical condition.”
While no illegal drugs were found in Hill’s possession, the report also
indicated that Hill had an “illegal substance” in his system when he died, DeBusk said.
DeBusk didn’t release specific information about Hill’s medical condition or the drug he might have been taking, but court records show that Hill suffered from asthma and frequently had to use a prescription inhaler.
Two veteran officers, Sgt. Chris Bell and Gerald George, have been placed on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation, DeBusk said.
The administrative action is standard departmental procedure following a fatal encounter, he said.
At 9:37 p.m. Tuesday, the E-911 Center began fielding the first of four calls concerning a man who was running into traffic and trying to get into vehicles in the vicinity of Cherry and Magnolia, DeBusk said.
One woman told police that Hill had tried to carjack her vehicle at the nearby intersection of Cherry and Washington Avenue by reaching through her window and grabbing her arm, but she was able to drive away, said DeBusk.
The woman, who had several female relatives in the car with her, drove to a Family Dollar store on Magnolia and called police.
Sgt. Bell, who was investigating reports of a man acting strangely in the road, pulled alongside Hill and tried to talk with him, DeBusk said. Bell then noticed the women at the Family Dollar store urgently waving at him so he drove up the street to speak with them as officer George - who was in a separate vehicle - pulled up and began talking to Hill.
The women identified Hill as the carjacking suspect and Bell drove back to the intersection where he and George tried to take Hill into custody for questioning.
When they confronted Hill, the situation escalated into a struggle and Bell eventually deployed his Taser three times in order to bring the suspect under control, DeBusk said. A few minutes later, after Hill had been handcuffed and was awaiting the arrival of a transport van to take him to jail, he became unresponsive.
“Even after being handcuffed, he continued to be combative with the officers,” DeBusk said.
Despite vigorous efforts to resuscitate him, Hill was later pronounced dead at St. Mary’s Medical Center, DeBusk said.
After the incident, a large crowd gathered in the parking lot of the Exxon station at the corner of Magnolia and Cherry. Multiple witnesses at the scene, all of whom declined to give their names, said they initially saw the man leap from a white van at the gas station.
The van, driven by a white male and described as a commercial model with ladders stored along the roof, drove off without stopping, they said.
“The boy jumped out of the van before the van stopped,” said one man. “He just leaped out.”
The suspect then stood in traffic on Magnolia, attempting to flag down passing vehicles until a Knoxville police cruiser arrived. The officer, said the witnesses, told Hill to move out of the street and drove to the Family Dollar store where he spoke with a group of women before turning his attention back to Hill.
A second police officer, as well as two Knoxville Fire Department paramedics, also arrived on the scene, the witnesses said.
The officers and the paramedics attempted to restrain and handcuff Hill, who was behaving erratically. The witnesses alleged that the officers hit Hill with their fists as they held him on the ground and then shocked him while he lay on the pavement.
DeBusk said police had received no reports of Hill jumping from a van. DeBusk also said the officers “absolutely did not” strike Hill during the confrontation but confirmed he was on the ground when he was shocked.
DeBusk said there is video of the incident shot by one of the officers’ in-car cameras. The video wasn’t released Wednesday because it’s part of the ongoing investigation, he said.
The witnesses also said the paramedics left the scene and only later did another paramedic crew arrive in an ambulance to administer CPR.
Knoxville Fire Department Captain Darrell Whitaker said a crew with Engine 6 was returning from a nearby house fire and happened upon the two officers in the midst of their confrontation with Hill.
“They saw these police officers getting their butts kicked by this guy,” Whitaker said. “They were afraid he was gonna get one of their guns.”
The firefighters, along with KFD Assistant Chief Tony Grande, stopped to help and were at the scene when Hill was shocked by a Taser. “After they Tasered him, he was fine,” said Whitaker, who did not witness the incident. “They got the cuffs on him. He was fine and dandy, conscious and breathing.”
Engine 6 left but was called back when Hill went into cardiac arrest. Grande and another paramedic tried to resuscitate Hill and later rode with him in the ambulance to the hospital, Whitaker said.
Hill was black and both officers are white. Local NAACP President Ezra Maize said Wednesday the organization hadn’t received any complaints or heard any community concerns about Hill’s death.
He also said he hadn’t been in contact with KPD officials about the incident. “We’ll be addressing the issue within the next day or two,” he said.
Knoxville Police Department officers used a stun gun late Wednesday night in a struggle with a man near the intersection of Summit Hill and Hall of Fame drives. The man fought with officers after they spotted him carrying drug paraphernalia just after 10 p.m., KPD Lt. Jeff Pappas said.
The man wasn’t seriously hurt but was taken to Baptist Hospital of East Tennessee for treatment, Pappas said. His name wasn’t available Wednesday night.
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