Anthony Joseph LopezRed Bank Police Chief Tim Christol did an about-face Friday.
On Monday, Christol told the Times Free Press that a report documenting Officer Mark Kaylor's use of force during the Aug. 4 arrest of Anthony Lopez didn't exist.
But on Friday he produced a copy of the missing report and said the original had been lost.
The new-found police documents say Kaylor struck Anthony Lopez twice in the head during the August arrest that took the skin and hair off of Lopez's head.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is already investigating Kaylor for striking another man in the head seven times during an April arrest - an event that prompted Lopez to speak out about his own altercation with the officer during a traffic stop after a wrong-way chase around 3 a.m. Aug. 4.
The documents offer more detail into the night's events.
Kaylor reported that he followed as Lopez drove south in the northbound lane of U.S. Highway 27 approaching Signal Mountain Road. Lopez, 34, did not stop until he reached Interstate 24, when he abruptly pulled to the shoulder, Kaylor said.
In his report, Kaylor said Lopez actively resisted arrest by "holding onto the steering wheel." Kaylor said he grabbed Lopez's arm and pulled him from the vehicle and to the ground.
"He brushed his head against the pavement slightly," Kaylor wrote.
He said he gained control of one of Lopez's arms but couldn't control the other.
"I used two quick strikes to Mr. Lopez to gain compliance," Kaylor wrote.
Later, Kaylor noticed that his own wrist was swelling and becoming painful, so he had himself checked at the hospital and discovered that he had a deep bruise, he wrote.
That account differs from what Lopez remembers. Lopez said he did not resist arrest and that he was handcuffed before Kaylor hit him.
Kaylor wrote the details in a Response to Resistance report he said he filed the morning of the arrest. Initially, Red Bank police said Kaylor did not file any such report, even though it is required any time an officer uses force that injures another person.
However, Kaylor's supervisor, Staff Sgt. Leightaylor Noorbergen, told Christol on Friday that Kaylor actually had filed that report.
She said she reviewed and submitted Kaylor's report to her supervisor Aug. 5. Police could not find the original report despite several searches in multiple places, Christol said.
Christol said something went wrong in the filing process that caused the original report to be lost - Response to Resistance reports are filed on paper, not electronically. Both Noorbergen and Kaylor provided copies of the report from their files.
Christol said Kaylor and Noorbergen did complete the report as required by department policy.
"They completed the reports in a timely manner and turned them in," Christol said. "If there was an administrative breakdown somewhere - and there obviously was - then that's on me. That's my fault."
He said he's working to put a new mechanism or system in place to ensure that future reports are filed correctly and not lost.
This is not the first time Noorbergen has found herself in the middle of a police investigation. In 2006, she was suspended for 28 days without pay from the Chattanooga Police Department when an internal affairs investigation found that she falsely arrested a woman and then was untruthful during a subsequent investigation, Time Free Press archives show.
Christol said the circumstances surrounding the missing report are unusual. But he maintained that Kaylor and Noorbergen followed proper procedure and that the report was lost after they turned it in.
"There is no cover-up, no conspiracy, or any intent not to provide a public record," Christol said.
Christol said Kaylor's electronic copy of the report included data that showed he filled it out in August.
Andrew Free, the attorney representing Lopez, said he's glad Christol understands that the filing system needs to be fixed.
"I am relieved that the chief appears to recognize that a process in which the agency loses these important documents is a broken process," he said. "I look forward to his continuing transparency and accountability to the public in this and all matters."
Lopez is also representing Candido Medina-Resendiz, 24, who raised the initial complaint against Kaylor after a dashboard camera recorded Kaylor striking him several times.
Contact staff writer Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525 or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com with tips or story ideas.
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