October 24, 2025 • 46 mins
Saturday night, 10:15 p.m., Knox County, Tennessee, 911 gets a report of shots fired on Stanley Road.
When deputies arrive, a woman claiming her "crazy ex" is on the property points officers toward a wooded area. Announcing their presence with shouts of "Sheriff's Office," a defiant voice from the woods curses the deputies. Someone begins throwing rocks.
The dark, wooded area provides cover for the suspect, who claims to have a gun.
Deputy Swanger can't get a clear view. Swanger orders the suspect to "show me your hands." As he enters the brush, he is met with an ambush of rocks. Swanger is hit full force on the head and falls to the ground.
Deputies rush to Swanger, who is "knocked out," and drag him from the woods to safety. A bloody gash is clearly visible. Deputy Swanger is unsteady on his feet.
Swanger is admitted into the ICU at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, where he ends up on a ventilator in a coma.
The suspect, 44-year-old Christopher Michael Hensley, is caught and charged.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
- Deputy Dalton Swanger - Knox County Sheriff's Office (suffered serious injury to his head after suspect hit him with a rock
- Stephania Pumphrey - Girlfriend of Deputy Swanger
- Deputy Matthew Kirchner - Former partner of Deputy Dalton Swanger
- Dr. Kendall Crowns - Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), NEW Podcast "Mayhem in the morgue" Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University)
- Dave Mack - Investigative Reporter, 'Crime Stories'
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, a Tennessee deputy in a
coma and on a ventilator fighting for his life after
a brutal attack. When he answers the call along with
his partner to help a woman, instead, he has to
(00:23):
be dragged out of bush's his head believing and ends
up fighting for his life. Why good evening, I'm Nancy Grace.
This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for
being with.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Us for years.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
A Deputy Dalton Swinger served with unwavering dedication at the
Knox County Sheriff's Office, a steady force protecting his community,
but one faithful call would thrust him and his team
into a life threatening confrontation that would change everything.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
We are being told that Swanger needs a very complicated
and complex surgery that is offered at just a handful
of hospitals in our country due to a trachea closing.
He's going to have to have a tracheal re section
because of a brutal injury he obtained on duty. And
(01:23):
this is where it all starts.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Listen Saturday night, ten fifteen pm, Knox County, Tennessee. Nine
one one gets a report of shots fired on Stanley
road deputies, followed by On Patrol Live TV show camera crew,
are greeted onseen by a woman claiming she has a
crazy X and pointing officers toward a wooded area, announcing
their presence with shouts of Sheriff's office. A defiant voice
(01:45):
from the woods curses the deputies and begins throwing rocks.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
Call about shots fired in Knox County, Tennessee, but as
he searched the perimeter of the woods, the here noises.
Deputy Dalton Swanger investigates further heads into the brush. He's
armed and he has no idea.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
What's a waiting from our friends at On Patrol Live.
And this is where we're getting a really exact look
at what happened that night. And there's more.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
The dark wooded area provides cover for the suspect, who
claims to have a gun as he is throwing rocks
at officers. Deputy spread out searching the perimeter, preventing the
suspect from running and getting away. Deputy Swinger goes into
the trees. The trees and brush prevent a clear view,
and Swinger tells the suspect show me your hands. It's
an ambush. As the suspect nail Swinger with a rock.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Imagine what it takes, day in, day out to go
into a darkened area where you think someone is in
their armed Yet you, Deputy Swinger, go in anyway because
it's your job. You don't question what could be in
the bushes, what could be in the dark the boogeyman
(02:59):
you can't see. You do your duty, and that's what
he did.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Listen, officers hear the ambush and see movement in the trees.
Then a thud has heard. His Deputy Swanger is hit
full force on top of his head and falls to
the ground. A deputy russies to Swanger, who says he
got knocked out. It was something hard. Fellow officers have
to drag the deputy from the woods and out of
the trees. A bloody gash can be clearly seen on
(03:24):
the deputy's head.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I want you to see what happened immediately after the attack.
Speaker 6 (03:32):
Show me your pens. Who are you knocked out?
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Anything that was from on patrol Lie to doctor Kendall
Crown's joining as Chief Medical Examiner Terrent County. He is
esteemed lecturer at the Burnet School of Medicine at TCU
at star of a hit podcast, Mayhem and the Morgue
Dodger Kimdl Crowns, thank you for being with us. Whenever
(04:13):
I hear the word a sud in connection with a
human body, it's never good. So how could Deputy Swanger
at first stand and speak saying I've been hit and
then suddenly end up in a coma?
Speaker 7 (04:29):
When he was hit with the rock, he got a
what is called a depressed skull fracture, which means it
didn't break through completely to the skull getting to the brain,
but it actually pushed down onto the brain. And when
that happens, it bruises the brain. But much like a
bruise on your body, it takes a little while for
that bruise to blossom or get bigger and actually start
(04:52):
having effects. Why he was able to speak initially is
because that bleeding in his brain wasn't severe enough that
was affecting them. But as a short time continued, the
bleeding started getting bigger, and then he started seizing and
went into a coma.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Doctor Kendall Crowns, remember we're just lay people, okay. I
don't understand how you get hit on the outside of
your head and then your brain bleeds deep inside your head.
Speaker 7 (05:25):
It's the hit to the head causes energy or kinetic
energy the wave to go into your brain tissue itself,
which is just liquid, and then that can cause a
disruption of the tissues and the blood vessels, resulting and
further bleeding. Plus also with the depressed skull fracture pushing
into the brain itself, it pushes on the brain tissue
(05:47):
causing damage as well.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Guys, I want you to brace yourself. I'm going to
show you video. Let's see it. Control room deputies arrived
to a nine to one one call of shots fired.
They go around the residence and a woman directs them
toward the woods. Deputy Swinger is about there. She is
(06:12):
directing him back to the woods, and they know the
perk could be armed, and what do they do. They
don't go high bind their patrol car. They go out there.
There's a guy in there with a weapon according to
the woman, and they go look for him before it
can hurt anyone. Deputy Swinger is in the woods with
another deputy watching. Now see the circle showing where Swinger
(06:35):
is when he is slammed on the top of the
head with a rot or. A brick, he falls over,
he's dragged out of the woods. He tries to stand
up with the help of another deputy, he can't really
stand and then in the end he has to be
(06:55):
dragged out of the woods. Watch this. That was from
on Patrol Live. Doctor Kendle Crowns. How is it? He
can talk and he can move his arms, but then
suddenly he can't move any of his limbs anymore, just
(07:18):
like that.
Speaker 7 (07:20):
Yeah, it's the process of the hemorrhage and the brain
getting bigger over time. Initially it's small, and then as
the bleeding increases and it starts affecting the brain more
and more, the blood itself is irritating the brain tissue,
which causes the brain to swell. And when the brain's swelling,
it's starting to compromise those functions of your body that
(07:41):
the brain controls, like your movement and your speech and
everything like that, and puts you into a coma. Thankfully,
our brainstem, which covered our brainstem which handles heart rate
and lungs, is more protected, so your body is still
able to function even though the rest of your higher
function as compromised, and that gives surgeons the opportunity to
(08:04):
do an operation to save the individual.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Guys, you've seen the video, you've heard the story, and
now I want you to meet the man who goes
into the bushes in the dark, into the woods to
find an armed purp. He is putting on a brave
front tonight, but in that one moment, his life was changed,
(08:30):
and now he is looking at a very, very extensive
and complicated a complex surgery called a tracheal re section,
joining me along with his fiance, Stefania Pumphrey. Deputy Dalton Swanger, Deputy,
thank you for.
Speaker 8 (08:50):
Being with us, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Man, Deputy Swanger, you're a medical miracle. When I learned
about what happened to you by chance meeting with your sister,
I was floored. I mean, I know you're presenting a
certain front tonight on TV, but I also learned a
(09:17):
little bit of what you've been through and what you're facing. Deputy.
What can you remember that night that changed your life forever?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
So my partner, now Kursher, we were working patrol. I
had Opos TV crewing me that evening and we hear
a shots fired call come out behead of the massations.
So we ended up canceling the other an it's going
to that call, because we were close. And we got
(09:52):
to the call and we met with the complainants and
they seemed, you know, they were very startled and stressed.
And then we went to the woodline where the alleged
suspect was. When I started, you know, announcing and see
what was wrong, we were met by very aggressive virtle responses.
Speaker 8 (10:13):
You see, you know, I could tell something was wrong.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
He was very emotionally elevated, extremely just you know, through
the roof and everything, trying to talk to him, try
and get better, saying it's so dark that night, and
you can't really tell a TV because they use a
night vision, but it was just pitch dark. And so
we eventually go in the woods because if our recall
r actually there was a phoenix and so we couldn't
(10:37):
really see from that angle. So we go down a
hill into the woods and once we get the woods,
we begin staying something about a three fifty seven madium.
Speaker 8 (10:45):
So we you know, that's when I turned my.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Light off, because you don't want to paint yourself as
a target when you're in the woods. And I thought
I was behind the tree. I was obviously he mistaking
and I started hearing things winding around us, and when
that happens the one of the folks. Next, I remember
just being there trying and I see a silhouette that
(11:08):
I'm in front of, like a kandescent life And the
next thing I know, it's like the green firework just
exploded in my face. It's the best way I can
describe it. Just looked like a green starburst were the
most overwhelming pain in the top of my head, and
my entire body locks up, and I'm blackout for what
felt like a split second, and I'm on the ground
(11:30):
and my entire body I can't belave it no matter
how hard I try. My body's in this slock. It's
like an entire body cramp amos. And I remember thinking
I didn't know if I was shot. I didn't know
what happened. And I remember thinking I was trying to
get my rifle up because I was terrified if I
hadn't been shot, Like what if he was advancing once
he was getting ready to finish the job, and I
was panicking and just trying to raise my rifle and
(11:52):
just see Casey was coming. A few moments later, my partner,
Kercher walks over and he asked me if I can
get up, and you know, I said, and he takes
in my hand and I remember Bristeman's hand as far
as I possibly could. And at this point, my body's
beginning to life. Winson up and he begins dragging me
out of the woods. And I remember feeling that as
I'm geting drug out of the woods, and I feel
(12:13):
something's running over my head.
Speaker 8 (12:15):
I'm still you know, something pouring over my head. I say,
someone was pouring water on my head.
Speaker 9 (12:21):
And so as I'm being drugged out of the woods,
hold on, just a moment, just a moment with me, guys,
is Deputy Dalton Swinger, Nots County Sheriff's Office, who was
putting on a brave front tonight, but he is awaiting
immediate and necessary life saving surgery.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I want you to hear what his friend and fellow
deputy Matt Kirchner said.
Speaker 10 (12:50):
I love the Rocky drew in it and art. I
didn't realize that a first, because I thought it was
just a rocket and around.
Speaker 7 (13:01):
I heard das Swinger.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
And straight out to Deputy Dalton Swanger's partner, Deputy Matthew Kirschner,
his former partner Deputy Kirchner, thank you for being with us.
When I saw that video from w ATE, it was
(13:27):
the Knox County Court video of you testifying at a
preliminary hearing, my chest just seized up, my throat just
felt like I swallowed a lump of coal. At first
I thought it was a rock hitting the ground. A
few seconds later I heard my partner groaning. I saw
him lying on the ground. What happened from your perspective
(13:50):
that night, Deputy Kirchner.
Speaker 10 (13:54):
Uh, during the Originally, when I first happened, I got
hit with a rock myself, and I knew that he
was throwing rocks. Hit me in the arm. But the
next one I thought was just a rock coming through
the woods, and I thought I hit the ground. But
if you said like I said before, it was I
heard Dalton gasping for air, and so I turned around.
(14:16):
I saw him on the ground. I asked him if
he could get up. I don't even remember if he
responded or not. My initial thing was to get him
out of there. I grabbed his hand and I took
him out of the danger zone as fast as I could.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Guys, I want to show you, believe it or not,
video from what happened that night, and here is that video.
This is from our friends from Peacock on Patrol Live.
Now you see the fellow deputy's looking for Swanger and
(14:53):
dragging him out. He came out stunned, bleeding and at
first thought he could stand. He's trying trying to stand up,
trying to stand up, and then he can't do it.
(15:19):
What happened to Deputy Swanger? This is from our friends
from Peacock on Patrol Live.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Knox County was no stranger to the public eye, making
periodic appearances on Patrol Live. But what started as another
routine shift for Dalgenswinger turned into a violent ordeal, one
that would send shockwaves through the Knox County Sheriff's Office.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Deputy Dalton Swanger is joining us tonight and in a
few moments I'm going to publicize he did not ask
for this. I asked for it his GoFundMe. We send
our police, our law enforcement out every day. We don't
think about it. We just call nine one one or
we report an accident. We don't think about what's happening
(16:08):
with them protecting us. We take it for granted until
someone like Swinger and I'd like to report Deputy Matthew
Kirschner has now had his own incident and is about
to face surgery from an on the job injury. Every
day we ask them to put their lives on the line,
(16:31):
and they go to work every morning not knowing whether
they'll come home. I mean to use step Stefania Pumphrey.
It must be excruciating seeing him go out the door
every morning and never knowing will he come home.
Speaker 11 (16:47):
Absolutely, it was something that I did take for granted
as well, and this has changed our lives and changed
our perspective on it.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Guys. She is, like her fiance Depputy Swinger, extremely humble.
They would never ask for anything. But I want you
to learn about how Stefania finds out what has happened
to Dalton.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
While still on Zeene after being injured, Dalton seems all right.
His girlfriend sees everything live on TV and calls Dalton
while he is in the ambulance. They talk for him
in it and she meets him at the emergency room.
Dalton's condition worsens on the way to the hospital and
he's admitted into ICU at the University of Tennessee Medical Center,
where he ends up on a ventilator in a coma.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
A doctor at Kendel Crowns what is a ventilator? Explain?
Speaker 7 (17:42):
A ventilator is a machine that basically breathes for you
when you have had trauma or something like that and
go into a coma and it's potential that your brain
shuts off your respiratory drive and you're no longer are breathing.
The machine itself will breathe for you. They place a
tube down your throat that goes into your trachia and
(18:03):
then forces oxygen in, keeping your body full of oxygen,
essentially keeping you alive.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Stefania Pumphrey joining us along with Deputy Dalton Swanger and
Deputy Matthew Kirchner. Stefania, tell me about that night when
you learned Dalton was headed to the ICU.
Speaker 8 (18:24):
Yeah, so I watched her lives.
Speaker 11 (18:26):
With everybody else, and when I saw the blood start
pouring out of his head, I called him. It was
as he was going end of the seizure and we
didn't know, but he told me how to be scared
and that he loved me. And that was the last
I heard until I got to the hospital, and it
(18:47):
was hours until his captain called me and said that
he had actually gone into a grandmall' sezure for over
an hour.
Speaker 8 (18:56):
We don't know if he's going to be okay, and
you need to.
Speaker 11 (18:59):
For bears, We're going to get you back here to
see him as soon as possible.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Wait, let me says to Fini again. Whoa wa, whoa
whoa what? Okay, I don't need the victory sign right now.
I need to get back there.
Speaker 10 (19:11):
You are.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Okay. They told you he's having a grandma seizure and
they don't know if he's going to make it. He
was just talking on the phone, right, Yeah.
Speaker 11 (19:23):
The last I heard was that he had totally he
loved me and not to be scared. And then and
then he sees after we got off the phone, and
I found out when I got.
Speaker 8 (19:33):
To the hospital.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. This is like everyone's worst nightmare,
Doctor Kendall Crowns, I'm so glad you're with us tonight
because we need you. What is the grandma seizure?
Speaker 7 (19:59):
So grand all seizure is a large seizure where the
entire bodies involved. The whole body shakes the person that
basically is no longer able to know what's going on
in their surroundings. They are essentially everything's shut off and
they're seizing, which is unlike an absence seizure, where it's
kind of a mild seizure where they may be a
(20:19):
little dazed or confused, but they're still able to breathe
and function, whereas a Grandma seizure is a is a
major seizure that affects the entire body and can actually
put a person into an arrhythmia and cause their death.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Deputy Swinger is joined by fiance Stefania Pumphrey Stefania. So
when you get to the hospital, that's when you learn
he had gone into grandmall seizures.
Speaker 11 (20:47):
Yes, it was a couple hours still before I learned.
I had to wait for a little bit. But as
Captain called me a couple hours after I got to
the hospital and told me that had him too the
seizure and we didn't know much information and if he
was going to be okay, and that I need to
prepare myself and that they're gonna bring me back to
(21:09):
see him soon.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
When you saw him, Stefan, yeah, describe what you saw.
Speaker 8 (21:18):
He was still shaking a little bit and he wasn't.
He wasn't cleaned up at all, so he was he
was covered in blood still, and he just didn't look
like himself. You know, I had just seen him, I
had just kissed him goodbye.
Speaker 11 (21:34):
It was it was my.
Speaker 8 (21:36):
Adulton, and and he just didn't look like him.
Speaker 11 (21:39):
He had the breathing to even he was covered in blood,
and the trembling from the end of the seizure was
was I think the.
Speaker 8 (21:48):
Worst part for it.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
What do you mean.
Speaker 11 (21:54):
He was still it looked to me like his body
was kind of shop I guess, just not right. And
when I got there, he was still shaking just a
little bit, like all his muscles were.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Just completely him was shaking his whole body.
Speaker 8 (22:14):
All of him yet, his chest, to his shoulders, his neck, everything.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
And at that point, was he already on a ventilator.
Speaker 8 (22:23):
M yep, yeah he was. They had already sedated him
and tried to get the senior to stop.
Speaker 11 (22:32):
And that moment was probably the hardest because I called
my parents, who my dad was also law enforcement, and
they come running it and my dad ran in his side,
my mom ran to mine, and so I was watching
the officer that raised me hould the hand of the
officer I loved, and none of us know he's going
(22:53):
to be okay, and that moment is really frozen in
time for me.
Speaker 8 (22:58):
I'll never forget seeing him for the first time like that.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Did you try to talk to him? M?
Speaker 8 (23:06):
Yeah, yeah, we we all talked to him.
Speaker 11 (23:09):
The doctor said that they're they're not sure how it works,
but but that there's a good chance that he can
still hear us, and so he said, talk to him
like he normally would, and so we all did.
Speaker 8 (23:23):
We all did the whole time in the coma. Actually
we just we talked to him all all week.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
What did you say?
Speaker 8 (23:32):
I told him I loved him, and and I told
him I was trying not to be scared like he
told me to. I told him it was going to
be okay no.
Speaker 11 (23:41):
Matter what happened, and and that if he needed whatever
he needed in the moment, we were gonna we.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Were going to do.
Speaker 8 (23:48):
I wasn't going to leave aside, we were going to
stay with him. He had everybody here.
Speaker 11 (23:54):
I just wanted him to know that he wasn't alone
and that and that we were here and we were
going to do anything we could or him.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Did he give any sign of response, not.
Speaker 8 (24:06):
Not until later in the coma in the week, but
for the first three days now.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Deputy Swinger, did you hear her?
Speaker 2 (24:19):
So that is one of the biggest things I think
people misconceived about commas and stuff, is like you do here,
and so that was just by far the most terrifying
and dramatic part of this for me is you're almost
in like a dream like state, and so I would
absolutely hear people's voices speaking to me, but it was
(24:41):
almost like I was changed in my own head and
you're trying to perceive things like that I would, I
assume to be that night. I whether it was a
dream hallucination, I don't know, but I pictured being in
a concrete allway surrounded by surgeons and I was I
remember I was pouring sweat in this and heeding as
much as I could to breathe. And I remember just
(25:04):
visualizing another guy on my shift telling me you can live.
You just have to be breathing. You have to keep breathing,
like you can't stop breathing or you die. And you
know that that was really traumatics through the colma. Absolutely,
you know, I heard people talking to me constantly. I
wanted to respond, I wanted to say stuff, but it's
(25:24):
like you're just trapped in in prison of your ownhead.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Deputy Swanger, you have answered a question for me that
I've asked since twenty sixteen. I always have wondered whether
my dad could hear me when I was talking to
him right before he died. And I'm taking great comfort
that you could actually hear Stefania. But you said that
(25:49):
was the worst part. Why was it the worst part
if you could hear her?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
So the parts that the hard part was because you're
so confused. And last thing, you have no perception of
time in a coma, and I would hear some people
would be like, what was telling me goodbye? And not
to get too far in the wings on this, but
I've lost one of my partners and years of back
(26:18):
that was killed on a call and I spoke to
him when he was on a ventilayer and stuff. And
you hear these people, some of which it sounds like
they're telling you goodbye and you just want to spring.
Speaker 8 (26:30):
Back and them like, I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving.
I'm not going to die, but you can't.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
And you hear these people and they're rubbing their shoulder
and they're telling you it's okay. You just got to relax,
And it's hard to explain to someone who's not been
in that situation. That's a it's a horrific thing when
the people you love and are surrounded by and telling
you goodbye and you want to respond so badly, but
all you can do is hear their words in despair
(26:57):
and how hurt they are, and you want to comfort them.
Speaker 10 (26:59):
That they can and that.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
That was a really terrifying moment for me. But the
moments I did have that we're really comporting with Sefami,
I was like to hear her. She's constantly saying I'm here,
I'm here, I mean, and so as alone as I
was in my head in all these terrific just traumatic hallucinations, nightmatters,
whatever you want to call them, it felt really nice
(27:23):
to hear her say I'm here.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Sometimes, responding to reports of gunfire, Deputy Swinger entered a
wooded area in pursuit of an armed suspect. Under the
cover of darkness. He disappeared into the trees, unaware that
within moments his life would be in danger.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
After everything that we have seen and her tonight, this
is a miracle, A miracle that Deputy Dalton Swanger is alive,
A miracle that his partner, Deputy Matthew Kirscher is alive,
who has now had his own injury. Deputy Kirchner, what
(28:04):
was going through your mind as you see Dalton falling?
He can't stand up. You guys are dragging him away.
Speaker 10 (28:15):
I was, I was in shock, but I was in
I was in survival, survival mode at that point point
when I saw him fall. I mean why I didn't
see him fall, but when I realized he fell and
he was on the ground, getting him out of there
was my number one thing. And the hardest part for
me on this whole thing is after we drug him
(28:35):
out and I had to leave him with a fellow
deputy instead of tending to him and that he's my
best friend. So it really killed me seeing him like that.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
We're showing video right now from our friends at Peacock's
on Patrol Live. I've swung or trying to stand there,
he goes, there, he goes. They can't do it. They
have to literally drag him away and all over what
Dave MATC Crime Stories investigative reporter Dave this was all
(29:14):
about a SHOT's fired. They go out there and risk
their lives over.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
What Dave mac nanthy, it was actually a domestic argument
between Hensley and his girlfriend. That's what they were. The
shots fired call domestic violence. They didn't know exactly what
was on tap for them when they got there, but
that's actually what was going on. Hensley was drunk and
he smacked his girlfriend and they called nine to one one.
(29:43):
That's what began all of this.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
You know, I just to you, w Matthew Kushner. I
don't think people get it, And you know what, Kirshner,
I'm glad they don't get it, because if they did
get it, it would mean that they're exposed to crime
every like we are. And I don't want that for
other people. I want them to live in a bubble. Right,
(30:07):
So people like you and Swanger and me and so
many other people, we hear it for them, right, Yes,
But when you go out on something as simple as
a domestic or should be simple, but very rarely is
it simple, you can end up dead, Dad kurtsher over what.
Speaker 10 (30:34):
Well, Unfortunately, domestics are like the most dangerous calls you
could possibly go on. The emotion levels are always higher
when people are fighting with the people they love. We
didn't know that's what we were dealing with. We just
thought we were dealing with somebody that was had shot
off some rounds and clearly was very intoxicated. Way he
(30:58):
was talking and yelling at us honestly had no point
that I expect rocks to be thrown at us. After
I got struck and then Dalton got struck and the
way he was out, I just never imagined that. In
every scenario I've been doing this for twenty seven years,
in every scenario I could play back in my head,
(31:20):
rock being hit in the head would be the last
one that I would think of.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
It has been described as a thud. You heard a thud,
and what that was was this huge rock being slammed
into Dalton's head. Described that sound.
Speaker 10 (31:40):
It It actually sounded like a huge rock hitting the
ground like a you know, it's just a sound that
it didn't bounce or anything. It just stuck. And that
sound was it hitting Dalton's head.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
And when I say for what for what? All this for?
Speaker 2 (32:01):
What?
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I'm not talking about a domestic ament. On plenty of
domestics where the woman was practically killed all right. This
guy had his bottom revote on a theft by shoplifting
and fifteen hundred marijuana plants found in the home, and
here he is hiding in the bushes. You think he's armed,
and he attacks Swanger. That's why I'm saying a POC
(32:26):
technical legal term. This should have already been behind bars.
He's growing pot in his house for Pete's sake, according
to charges manufacturing delivering drugs. Yeah, he should have already
been in jail and then allegedly hits Swanger and lands
(32:47):
him in a coma. I mean, Deputy Swinger, when you
went out, what was in your mind if you can
remember when you go into those bushes, I mean, you
thought the guy might be armed, but you went into
the bushes into the woods anyway.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
So it's a really chaotic thing and kind of has
Dipping Herscher explained. You know, we're constantly trained to assess threats,
and that's always what your mind is, especially in a
very vulnerable moment like that when you can't see, you're
an unfamiliar territory of the woods are super hard to navigating.
Speaker 8 (33:24):
You don't know if you're going to step in, and
he did it.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
The ground trip over a branch, get caught on the leads,
so you're trying to navigate the drain. You're trying to
see the threat, but it's so dark you can't turn
on your light because they din't give a beacon if
he does have a gun to where he could shoot,
and if I don't, if I recall correctly, I believe
you say. He even taunts us to turn our lights
back on. So that's making you think, like, oh, he
could be wanting to shoot. And then the way you
(33:48):
never don't think. I never until this perceive was a
threat coming from above on top of your head. And
so that is you know, you're scanning for like a
three sixty round you but you never picture something coming
down and hitting your head. So it was just just
like every other call, you're trying to assess the threat
and what's going on there. But in this particular situation,
(34:11):
we were in a complete starfus.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
A prayer vigil is held for Dalton while he's in
the ICU. Organized by the community, the prayer vigil was
held at the UT Medical Center in an effort to
show support for Dalton and his family.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Suddenly chaos.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Deputy Swinger is struck in the head with a large rock,
he collapses to the ground. In ripping footage, his fellow
deputies are seen dragging into safety a desperate race against
time to save one of their.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Own, while he is putting on a brave face. Tonight
along with fiance Stefania Pomphrey, he is facing very comprehensive
and complex surgery.
Speaker 4 (34:50):
Listen Dalton now suffers complications that stem from being on
the ventilator while in a coma trachyll stenosis. This narrow
of the trachea could be from Dalton having to be
forcefully intubated while he was having seizures, or possibly by
the breathing tube. He has already had three unsuccessful surgeries
and the next surgery he faces is very dangerous and
(35:13):
has an extremely long recovery time, and that is only
after they can find a hospital with a highly specialized
group known as a Complex Airway team.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
A Complex Airway Team, Doctor Killer Crowns.
Speaker 7 (35:27):
What is that so in this situation where the individual
or the officer sorry has a post intubation syndrome where
he's basically the tissue of his trachea was damaged from
the intubation and it's basically closing up and making his
airway smaller and smaller and smaller. They have to do
something to open that back up so he can breathe properly.
(35:50):
A complex airway team is one that's going to probably
take a pararion.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Crowns, crowns, crowns. I know in Milescale English, you had
the teacher write a sentence in dissected. Here's the verb,
here's the noun, here's the adjective average, Okay, slow it
down then all right? No problem was also very bad
when you have to have it, When you have to
(36:18):
have the ventilator, it goes down your track, your trich
you right here, I think, okay, And when you have
the ventilator forced down your trichia, it damages the trichia
or can damage the trich you. So yes, what would
that damage be? For instance, with swinger, what is the damage?
(36:39):
How bad can it be?
Speaker 7 (36:42):
So your mucoastal membranes like your mouth are very very
easily disrupted or damage, And you're pushing this tube into
the throw while someone's seizing, and that damage can be
a rubbing away of the mucoastal lining, basically making an
ulcer and ulceration, and he has this tube in it
throat for a period of time and that ulceration can't heal.
(37:03):
So how it heals is by scarring, and the scarring
itself can become so bad that it will decrease the
airway and that is what has happened to the officers.
His scarring from the intubation has decreased his airway space,
making it hard for him to breathe. And what they're
going to have to do is take a piece of
his trachea out and try and attach the unaffected areas
(37:25):
of his trachea back together, which is called an anastmosis,
or potentially do a reconstruction where they use Carlage graphs
or synthetic material to try and rebuild the area.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Crime stores with Nancy Grace, a deputy Dogg and Swanger
and Stefania. You may need to help him because I
don't know if he's going to tell me to try.
When you think about the fact you've already had three
(38:06):
very complex surgeries and now you have this ahead of you,
how are you holding up?
Speaker 2 (38:17):
It's extremely mentally daunting, because you know, we were at
a point where you're like, oh, you know the TBI
out received GCS three, which is the most severe classification
you can get. I was like out of the frying pan,
but now it feels like I'm kind of in the
fire it. So it is extremely mentally daunting thinking of
(38:38):
them cutting a portion of your airway out. But you know,
I've relied heavily in my faith, and you know, relied
heavily on God for this, and that's problem and drinking Stevania.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
I understand that there are only a few hospitals that
perform this is it because it's very dangerous and complex.
Speaker 11 (39:00):
His is a unique case because of how quickly the
scar tissue is growing again. You're supposed to the surgeries
that he had that were unsuccessful, they're supposed to last
one to two months if they don't fix the problem,
and his were lasting maybe a week where he could
(39:21):
breathe slightly easier, and then he would just feel like
he was suffocating again and it would close up further.
So he's a pretty unique case. And it's also really
close to his vote, So it's just more complex than
what a normal caiece would be.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
When it's very close to.
Speaker 10 (39:39):
Is what.
Speaker 8 (39:41):
Vocal courts. It's two centimeters below, so.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
If anything goes wrong, he won't be able to speak.
W Kurtscher. I understand that since Swanger incident, you had
a head on Collis with a fleeting suspect.
Speaker 10 (40:03):
Is that right, yes, ma'am. I was a passenger of
my trope bar with my training was driving. Yes.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
And you are facing an upcoming surgery as well.
Speaker 10 (40:16):
I've had three surgeries so far and I have a
very large surgery coming up on October thirtieth. What is
the surgery? My injury was a shattered ankle. I had
all three bones in the ankle shattered, but none of
the healing. None of the bones are healing, and after
(40:40):
several consultations and recommendation, my ankles to be amputated on
the thirtieth.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
What is your frame of mind, Deputy Kursher.
Speaker 10 (40:57):
It's an emotional roller coaster. I am trying to imagine
life without a foot. It's something that I never could imagine.
My pain is unbearable every single day of It's a
relief to know that that pain will be gone. But
I'm very sad that I'm losing my foot, and I
(41:18):
wish there was something else that could be done. But
doesn't seem like that's possible.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
When you joined the force, Kirchner, did you ever imagine
this would happen?
Speaker 10 (41:33):
No, I don't think anybody ever joins the force thinking
something's going to happen. You know, I went twenty seven
years before it happened. I've been very lucky. I'm blessed.
The agency that I work for has been fantastic, and
everybody around me has been great. But I never thought
(41:54):
that this would happen. Never.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Deputy Kirschner facing his own serious surgery, the amputation from
the ankle down after a head on collision with a
fleeing suspect. I'm donating to his GoFundMe and if you
feel so moved, it's on go fundme. Blue Line Tennessee
Ink Support Knox County Deputy Matthew Matt Kirchner k I
(42:22):
R C H N E R. He would never ask
for it on his own. I we researched it. He
did not ask us to do this. To Deputy Dalton Swinger,
You're facing a life threatening, extensive and complex surgery. What
(42:45):
is your frame of mind?
Speaker 8 (42:50):
The way I'm getting it, the way I'm encroaching it.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
Like I said, I'm relied very heavily in my face,
and I'm trying to you it's a positive thing that
God's given me a chance to see like what I'm
made of and Albasilia, I can be and I will
approach this in the absolute mindset that as painful and
growing as this is, being allowed from underneath it, do
whatever it.
Speaker 8 (43:14):
Takes to get back to having a badge on the chifs.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
And so it's terrifying, but I know, for landma heart,
no matter what happens and how bad it iss, I
want to get back to doing all love Swinger.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
One more thing. You were telling me that when you
were in a coma, or when you're about to go
into a coma, you were hearing I believe you said
a fellow deputy. I don't know if it was real,
if it was in your mind telling you you have
to keep breathing, listen, how did you make yourself keep breathing?
Speaker 10 (43:56):
And the visualization.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
I was in a concrete hallway and it was almost
like a or maybe it's like it was like flickering lights,
and I was surrounded by just you know, gray man surgeons.
Speaker 8 (44:05):
Kind of without a face.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
And I was in this hospital bit and I remember
just oring sweat, and there's a death you saying you
can live, you can do this, but you have to
keep breathing or you will die. So I put in
that visualization I was having, whether it was a dream hallucination,
I just put all of them, I as in the
basket of if I can just keep breathing, I'll make
(44:27):
it out of this. So I just remembered sitting in
that hallucination going and I just did that over and
over for what felt like an attorney in that you know,
hallucinated halway or a dream like halway.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
For those of you that are listening or watching tonight. Again,
they did not ask for this. We researched it and
found it. Please go to his GoFundMe. We are support
Deputy Dalton Swanger and family. Both of these deputies have
(44:59):
a very very long row to Hoe and I want
both of them to know how much you mean to us,
to all of us. We go about our days assuming
(45:19):
you're there, when the truth is, if you weren't there,
we wouldn't be here. Nobody would be protecting us, Nobody
would be catching the bag eyes and putting them away
from us and away from our children. But you do
(45:40):
that day and night, with no thought of your own safety.
And in addition to the Gofundmes well, you're bringing down
a power much more powerful. We are calling on a
power much greater than a dollar bill. You will both
be in our prayers until you are well. Thank you
(46:06):
for everyone joining us tonight, and now we stop to
remember an American hero officer, Brandon paul A. Storf of
Bay Saint Louis Police Department in Mississippi, just twenty three,
shot and killed in the line of duty, survived by
a grieving mother and father Ian also in law enforcement.
(46:31):
Siblings Lily Sophia, Giordana, Chloe and Andrew. American hero officer
Brandon paul Estorf. Nancy Grace signing off goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, a Tennessee deputy in a
coma and on a ventilator fighting for his life after
a brutal attack. When he answers the call along with
his partner to help a woman, instead, he has to
(00:23):
be dragged out of bush's his head believing and ends
up fighting for his life. Why good evening, I'm Nancy Grace.
This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for
being with.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Us for years.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
A Deputy Dalton Swinger served with unwavering dedication at the
Knox County Sheriff's Office, a steady force protecting his community,
but one faithful call would thrust him and his team
into a life threatening confrontation that would change everything.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
We are being told that Swanger needs a very complicated
and complex surgery that is offered at just a handful
of hospitals in our country due to a trachea closing.
He's going to have to have a tracheal re section
because of a brutal injury he obtained on duty. And
(01:23):
this is where it all starts.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Listen Saturday night, ten fifteen pm, Knox County, Tennessee. Nine
one one gets a report of shots fired on Stanley
road deputies, followed by On Patrol Live TV show camera crew,
are greeted onseen by a woman claiming she has a
crazy X and pointing officers toward a wooded area, announcing
their presence with shouts of Sheriff's office. A defiant voice
(01:45):
from the woods curses the deputies and begins throwing rocks.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
Call about shots fired in Knox County, Tennessee, but as
he searched the perimeter of the woods, the here noises.
Deputy Dalton Swanger investigates further heads into the brush. He's
armed and he has no idea.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
What's a waiting from our friends at On Patrol Live.
And this is where we're getting a really exact look
at what happened that night. And there's more.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
The dark wooded area provides cover for the suspect, who
claims to have a gun as he is throwing rocks
at officers. Deputy spread out searching the perimeter, preventing the
suspect from running and getting away. Deputy Swinger goes into
the trees. The trees and brush prevent a clear view,
and Swinger tells the suspect show me your hands. It's
an ambush. As the suspect nail Swinger with a rock.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Imagine what it takes, day in, day out to go
into a darkened area where you think someone is in
their armed Yet you, Deputy Swinger, go in anyway because
it's your job. You don't question what could be in
the bushes, what could be in the dark the boogeyman
(02:59):
you can't see. You do your duty, and that's what
he did.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Listen, officers hear the ambush and see movement in the trees.
Then a thud has heard. His Deputy Swanger is hit
full force on top of his head and falls to
the ground. A deputy russies to Swanger, who says he
got knocked out. It was something hard. Fellow officers have
to drag the deputy from the woods and out of
the trees. A bloody gash can be clearly seen on
(03:24):
the deputy's head.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I want you to see what happened immediately after the attack.
Speaker 6 (03:32):
Show me your pens. Who are you knocked out?
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Anything that was from on patrol Lie to doctor Kendall
Crown's joining as Chief Medical Examiner Terrent County. He is
esteemed lecturer at the Burnet School of Medicine at TCU
at star of a hit podcast, Mayhem and the Morgue
Dodger Kimdl Crowns, thank you for being with us. Whenever
(04:13):
I hear the word a sud in connection with a
human body, it's never good. So how could Deputy Swanger
at first stand and speak saying I've been hit and
then suddenly end up in a coma?
Speaker 7 (04:29):
When he was hit with the rock, he got a
what is called a depressed skull fracture, which means it
didn't break through completely to the skull getting to the brain,
but it actually pushed down onto the brain. And when
that happens, it bruises the brain. But much like a
bruise on your body, it takes a little while for
that bruise to blossom or get bigger and actually start
(04:52):
having effects. Why he was able to speak initially is
because that bleeding in his brain wasn't severe enough that
was affecting them. But as a short time continued, the
bleeding started getting bigger, and then he started seizing and
went into a coma.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Doctor Kendall Crowns, remember we're just lay people, okay. I
don't understand how you get hit on the outside of
your head and then your brain bleeds deep inside your head.
Speaker 7 (05:25):
It's the hit to the head causes energy or kinetic
energy the wave to go into your brain tissue itself,
which is just liquid, and then that can cause a
disruption of the tissues and the blood vessels, resulting and
further bleeding. Plus also with the depressed skull fracture pushing
into the brain itself, it pushes on the brain tissue
(05:47):
causing damage as well.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Guys, I want you to brace yourself. I'm going to
show you video. Let's see it. Control room deputies arrived
to a nine to one one call of shots fired.
They go around the residence and a woman directs them
toward the woods. Deputy Swinger is about there. She is
(06:12):
directing him back to the woods, and they know the
perk could be armed, and what do they do. They
don't go high bind their patrol car. They go out there.
There's a guy in there with a weapon according to
the woman, and they go look for him before it
can hurt anyone. Deputy Swinger is in the woods with
another deputy watching. Now see the circle showing where Swinger
(06:35):
is when he is slammed on the top of the
head with a rot or. A brick, he falls over,
he's dragged out of the woods. He tries to stand
up with the help of another deputy, he can't really
stand and then in the end he has to be
(06:55):
dragged out of the woods. Watch this. That was from
on Patrol Live. Doctor Kendle Crowns. How is it? He
can talk and he can move his arms, but then
suddenly he can't move any of his limbs anymore, just
(07:18):
like that.
Speaker 7 (07:20):
Yeah, it's the process of the hemorrhage and the brain
getting bigger over time. Initially it's small, and then as
the bleeding increases and it starts affecting the brain more
and more, the blood itself is irritating the brain tissue,
which causes the brain to swell. And when the brain's swelling,
it's starting to compromise those functions of your body that
(07:41):
the brain controls, like your movement and your speech and
everything like that, and puts you into a coma. Thankfully,
our brainstem, which covered our brainstem which handles heart rate
and lungs, is more protected, so your body is still
able to function even though the rest of your higher
function as compromised, and that gives surgeons the opportunity to
(08:04):
do an operation to save the individual.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Guys, you've seen the video, you've heard the story, and
now I want you to meet the man who goes
into the bushes in the dark, into the woods to
find an armed purp. He is putting on a brave
front tonight, but in that one moment, his life was changed,
(08:30):
and now he is looking at a very, very extensive
and complicated a complex surgery called a tracheal re section,
joining me along with his fiance, Stefania Pumphrey. Deputy Dalton Swanger, Deputy,
thank you for.
Speaker 8 (08:50):
Being with us, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Man, Deputy Swanger, you're a medical miracle. When I learned
about what happened to you by chance meeting with your sister,
I was floored. I mean, I know you're presenting a
certain front tonight on TV, but I also learned a
(09:17):
little bit of what you've been through and what you're facing. Deputy.
What can you remember that night that changed your life forever?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
So my partner, now Kursher, we were working patrol. I
had Opos TV crewing me that evening and we hear
a shots fired call come out behead of the massations.
So we ended up canceling the other an it's going
to that call, because we were close. And we got
(09:52):
to the call and we met with the complainants and
they seemed, you know, they were very startled and stressed.
And then we went to the woodline where the alleged
suspect was. When I started, you know, announcing and see
what was wrong, we were met by very aggressive virtle responses.
Speaker 8 (10:13):
You see, you know, I could tell something was wrong.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
He was very emotionally elevated, extremely just you know, through
the roof and everything, trying to talk to him, try
and get better, saying it's so dark that night, and
you can't really tell a TV because they use a
night vision, but it was just pitch dark. And so
we eventually go in the woods because if our recall
r actually there was a phoenix and so we couldn't
(10:37):
really see from that angle. So we go down a
hill into the woods and once we get the woods,
we begin staying something about a three fifty seven madium.
Speaker 8 (10:45):
So we you know, that's when I turned my.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Light off, because you don't want to paint yourself as
a target when you're in the woods. And I thought
I was behind the tree. I was obviously he mistaking
and I started hearing things winding around us, and when
that happens the one of the folks. Next, I remember
just being there trying and I see a silhouette that
(11:08):
I'm in front of, like a kandescent life And the
next thing I know, it's like the green firework just
exploded in my face. It's the best way I can
describe it. Just looked like a green starburst were the
most overwhelming pain in the top of my head, and
my entire body locks up, and I'm blackout for what
felt like a split second, and I'm on the ground
(11:30):
and my entire body I can't belave it no matter
how hard I try. My body's in this slock. It's
like an entire body cramp amos. And I remember thinking
I didn't know if I was shot. I didn't know
what happened. And I remember thinking I was trying to
get my rifle up because I was terrified if I
hadn't been shot, Like what if he was advancing once
he was getting ready to finish the job, and I
was panicking and just trying to raise my rifle and
(11:52):
just see Casey was coming. A few moments later, my partner,
Kercher walks over and he asked me if I can
get up, and you know, I said, and he takes
in my hand and I remember Bristeman's hand as far
as I possibly could. And at this point, my body's
beginning to life. Winson up and he begins dragging me
out of the woods. And I remember feeling that as
I'm geting drug out of the woods, and I feel
(12:13):
something's running over my head.
Speaker 8 (12:15):
I'm still you know, something pouring over my head. I say,
someone was pouring water on my head.
Speaker 9 (12:21):
And so as I'm being drugged out of the woods,
hold on, just a moment, just a moment with me, guys,
is Deputy Dalton Swinger, Nots County Sheriff's Office, who was
putting on a brave front tonight, but he is awaiting
immediate and necessary life saving surgery.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I want you to hear what his friend and fellow
deputy Matt Kirchner said.
Speaker 10 (12:50):
I love the Rocky drew in it and art. I
didn't realize that a first, because I thought it was
just a rocket and around.
Speaker 7 (13:01):
I heard das Swinger.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
And straight out to Deputy Dalton Swanger's partner, Deputy Matthew Kirschner,
his former partner Deputy Kirchner, thank you for being with us.
When I saw that video from w ATE, it was
(13:27):
the Knox County Court video of you testifying at a
preliminary hearing, my chest just seized up, my throat just
felt like I swallowed a lump of coal. At first
I thought it was a rock hitting the ground. A
few seconds later I heard my partner groaning. I saw
him lying on the ground. What happened from your perspective
(13:50):
that night, Deputy Kirchner.
Speaker 10 (13:54):
Uh, during the Originally, when I first happened, I got
hit with a rock myself, and I knew that he
was throwing rocks. Hit me in the arm. But the
next one I thought was just a rock coming through
the woods, and I thought I hit the ground. But
if you said like I said before, it was I
heard Dalton gasping for air, and so I turned around.
(14:16):
I saw him on the ground. I asked him if
he could get up. I don't even remember if he
responded or not. My initial thing was to get him
out of there. I grabbed his hand and I took
him out of the danger zone as fast as I could.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Guys, I want to show you, believe it or not,
video from what happened that night, and here is that video.
This is from our friends from Peacock on Patrol Live.
Now you see the fellow deputy's looking for Swanger and
(14:53):
dragging him out. He came out stunned, bleeding and at
first thought he could stand. He's trying trying to stand up,
trying to stand up, and then he can't do it.
(15:19):
What happened to Deputy Swanger? This is from our friends
from Peacock on Patrol Live.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Knox County was no stranger to the public eye, making
periodic appearances on Patrol Live. But what started as another
routine shift for Dalgenswinger turned into a violent ordeal, one
that would send shockwaves through the Knox County Sheriff's Office.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Deputy Dalton Swanger is joining us tonight and in a
few moments I'm going to publicize he did not ask
for this. I asked for it his GoFundMe. We send
our police, our law enforcement out every day. We don't
think about it. We just call nine one one or
we report an accident. We don't think about what's happening
(16:08):
with them protecting us. We take it for granted until
someone like Swinger and I'd like to report Deputy Matthew
Kirschner has now had his own incident and is about
to face surgery from an on the job injury. Every
day we ask them to put their lives on the line,
(16:31):
and they go to work every morning not knowing whether
they'll come home. I mean to use step Stefania Pumphrey.
It must be excruciating seeing him go out the door
every morning and never knowing will he come home.
Speaker 11 (16:47):
Absolutely, it was something that I did take for granted
as well, and this has changed our lives and changed
our perspective on it.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Guys. She is, like her fiance Depputy Swinger, extremely humble.
They would never ask for anything. But I want you
to learn about how Stefania finds out what has happened
to Dalton.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
While still on Zeene after being injured, Dalton seems all right.
His girlfriend sees everything live on TV and calls Dalton
while he is in the ambulance. They talk for him
in it and she meets him at the emergency room.
Dalton's condition worsens on the way to the hospital and
he's admitted into ICU at the University of Tennessee Medical Center,
where he ends up on a ventilator in a coma.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
A doctor at Kendel Crowns what is a ventilator? Explain?
Speaker 7 (17:42):
A ventilator is a machine that basically breathes for you
when you have had trauma or something like that and
go into a coma and it's potential that your brain
shuts off your respiratory drive and you're no longer are breathing.
The machine itself will breathe for you. They place a
tube down your throat that goes into your trachia and
(18:03):
then forces oxygen in, keeping your body full of oxygen,
essentially keeping you alive.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Stefania Pumphrey joining us along with Deputy Dalton Swanger and
Deputy Matthew Kirchner. Stefania, tell me about that night when
you learned Dalton was headed to the ICU.
Speaker 8 (18:24):
Yeah, so I watched her lives.
Speaker 11 (18:26):
With everybody else, and when I saw the blood start
pouring out of his head, I called him. It was
as he was going end of the seizure and we
didn't know, but he told me how to be scared
and that he loved me. And that was the last
I heard until I got to the hospital, and it
(18:47):
was hours until his captain called me and said that
he had actually gone into a grandmall' sezure for over
an hour.
Speaker 8 (18:56):
We don't know if he's going to be okay, and
you need to.
Speaker 11 (18:59):
For bears, We're going to get you back here to
see him as soon as possible.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Wait, let me says to Fini again. Whoa wa, whoa
whoa what? Okay, I don't need the victory sign right now.
I need to get back there.
Speaker 10 (19:11):
You are.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Okay. They told you he's having a grandma seizure and
they don't know if he's going to make it. He
was just talking on the phone, right, Yeah.
Speaker 11 (19:23):
The last I heard was that he had totally he
loved me and not to be scared. And then and
then he sees after we got off the phone, and
I found out when I got.
Speaker 8 (19:33):
To the hospital.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. This is like everyone's worst nightmare,
Doctor Kendall Crowns, I'm so glad you're with us tonight
because we need you. What is the grandma seizure?
Speaker 7 (19:59):
So grand all seizure is a large seizure where the
entire bodies involved. The whole body shakes the person that
basically is no longer able to know what's going on
in their surroundings. They are essentially everything's shut off and
they're seizing, which is unlike an absence seizure, where it's
kind of a mild seizure where they may be a
(20:19):
little dazed or confused, but they're still able to breathe
and function, whereas a Grandma seizure is a is a
major seizure that affects the entire body and can actually
put a person into an arrhythmia and cause their death.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Deputy Swinger is joined by fiance Stefania Pumphrey Stefania. So
when you get to the hospital, that's when you learn
he had gone into grandmall seizures.
Speaker 11 (20:47):
Yes, it was a couple hours still before I learned.
I had to wait for a little bit. But as
Captain called me a couple hours after I got to
the hospital and told me that had him too the
seizure and we didn't know much information and if he
was going to be okay, and that I need to
prepare myself and that they're gonna bring me back to
(21:09):
see him soon.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
When you saw him, Stefan, yeah, describe what you saw.
Speaker 8 (21:18):
He was still shaking a little bit and he wasn't.
He wasn't cleaned up at all, so he was he
was covered in blood still, and he just didn't look
like himself. You know, I had just seen him, I
had just kissed him goodbye.
Speaker 11 (21:34):
It was it was my.
Speaker 8 (21:36):
Adulton, and and he just didn't look like him.
Speaker 11 (21:39):
He had the breathing to even he was covered in blood,
and the trembling from the end of the seizure was
was I think the.
Speaker 8 (21:48):
Worst part for it.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
What do you mean.
Speaker 11 (21:54):
He was still it looked to me like his body
was kind of shop I guess, just not right. And
when I got there, he was still shaking just a
little bit, like all his muscles were.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Just completely him was shaking his whole body.
Speaker 8 (22:14):
All of him yet, his chest, to his shoulders, his neck, everything.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
And at that point, was he already on a ventilator.
Speaker 8 (22:23):
M yep, yeah he was. They had already sedated him
and tried to get the senior to stop.
Speaker 11 (22:32):
And that moment was probably the hardest because I called
my parents, who my dad was also law enforcement, and
they come running it and my dad ran in his side,
my mom ran to mine, and so I was watching
the officer that raised me hould the hand of the
officer I loved, and none of us know he's going
(22:53):
to be okay, and that moment is really frozen in
time for me.
Speaker 8 (22:58):
I'll never forget seeing him for the first time like that.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Did you try to talk to him? M?
Speaker 8 (23:06):
Yeah, yeah, we we all talked to him.
Speaker 11 (23:09):
The doctor said that they're they're not sure how it works,
but but that there's a good chance that he can
still hear us, and so he said, talk to him
like he normally would, and so we all did.
Speaker 8 (23:23):
We all did the whole time in the coma. Actually
we just we talked to him all all week.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
What did you say?
Speaker 8 (23:32):
I told him I loved him, and and I told
him I was trying not to be scared like he
told me to. I told him it was going to
be okay no.
Speaker 11 (23:41):
Matter what happened, and and that if he needed whatever
he needed in the moment, we were gonna we.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Were going to do.
Speaker 8 (23:48):
I wasn't going to leave aside, we were going to
stay with him. He had everybody here.
Speaker 11 (23:54):
I just wanted him to know that he wasn't alone
and that and that we were here and we were
going to do anything we could or him.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Did he give any sign of response, not.
Speaker 8 (24:06):
Not until later in the coma in the week, but
for the first three days now.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Deputy Swinger, did you hear her?
Speaker 2 (24:19):
So that is one of the biggest things I think
people misconceived about commas and stuff, is like you do here,
and so that was just by far the most terrifying
and dramatic part of this for me is you're almost
in like a dream like state, and so I would
absolutely hear people's voices speaking to me, but it was
(24:41):
almost like I was changed in my own head and
you're trying to perceive things like that I would, I
assume to be that night. I whether it was a
dream hallucination, I don't know, but I pictured being in
a concrete allway surrounded by surgeons and I was I
remember I was pouring sweat in this and heeding as
much as I could to breathe. And I remember just
(25:04):
visualizing another guy on my shift telling me you can live.
You just have to be breathing. You have to keep breathing,
like you can't stop breathing or you die. And you
know that that was really traumatics through the colma. Absolutely,
you know, I heard people talking to me constantly. I
wanted to respond, I wanted to say stuff, but it's
(25:24):
like you're just trapped in in prison of your ownhead.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Deputy Swanger, you have answered a question for me that
I've asked since twenty sixteen. I always have wondered whether
my dad could hear me when I was talking to
him right before he died. And I'm taking great comfort
that you could actually hear Stefania. But you said that
(25:49):
was the worst part. Why was it the worst part
if you could hear her?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
So the parts that the hard part was because you're
so confused. And last thing, you have no perception of
time in a coma, and I would hear some people
would be like, what was telling me goodbye? And not
to get too far in the wings on this, but
I've lost one of my partners and years of back
(26:18):
that was killed on a call and I spoke to
him when he was on a ventilayer and stuff. And
you hear these people, some of which it sounds like
they're telling you goodbye and you just want to spring.
Speaker 8 (26:30):
Back and them like, I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving.
I'm not going to die, but you can't.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
And you hear these people and they're rubbing their shoulder
and they're telling you it's okay. You just got to relax,
And it's hard to explain to someone who's not been
in that situation. That's a it's a horrific thing when
the people you love and are surrounded by and telling
you goodbye and you want to respond so badly, but
all you can do is hear their words in despair
(26:57):
and how hurt they are, and you want to comfort them.
Speaker 10 (26:59):
That they can and that.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
That was a really terrifying moment for me. But the
moments I did have that we're really comporting with Sefami,
I was like to hear her. She's constantly saying I'm here,
I'm here, I mean, and so as alone as I
was in my head in all these terrific just traumatic hallucinations, nightmatters,
whatever you want to call them, it felt really nice
(27:23):
to hear her say I'm here.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Sometimes, responding to reports of gunfire, Deputy Swinger entered a
wooded area in pursuit of an armed suspect. Under the
cover of darkness. He disappeared into the trees, unaware that
within moments his life would be in danger.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
After everything that we have seen and her tonight, this
is a miracle, A miracle that Deputy Dalton Swanger is alive,
A miracle that his partner, Deputy Matthew Kirscher is alive,
who has now had his own injury. Deputy Kirchner, what
(28:04):
was going through your mind as you see Dalton falling?
He can't stand up. You guys are dragging him away.
Speaker 10 (28:15):
I was, I was in shock, but I was in
I was in survival, survival mode at that point point
when I saw him fall. I mean why I didn't
see him fall, but when I realized he fell and
he was on the ground, getting him out of there
was my number one thing. And the hardest part for
me on this whole thing is after we drug him
(28:35):
out and I had to leave him with a fellow
deputy instead of tending to him and that he's my
best friend. So it really killed me seeing him like that.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
We're showing video right now from our friends at Peacock's
on Patrol Live. I've swung or trying to stand there,
he goes, there, he goes. They can't do it. They
have to literally drag him away and all over what
Dave MATC Crime Stories investigative reporter Dave this was all
(29:14):
about a SHOT's fired. They go out there and risk
their lives over.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
What Dave mac nanthy, it was actually a domestic argument
between Hensley and his girlfriend. That's what they were. The
shots fired call domestic violence. They didn't know exactly what
was on tap for them when they got there, but
that's actually what was going on. Hensley was drunk and
he smacked his girlfriend and they called nine to one one.
(29:43):
That's what began all of this.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
You know, I just to you, w Matthew Kushner. I
don't think people get it, And you know what, Kirshner,
I'm glad they don't get it, because if they did
get it, it would mean that they're exposed to crime
every like we are. And I don't want that for
other people. I want them to live in a bubble. Right,
(30:07):
So people like you and Swanger and me and so
many other people, we hear it for them, right, Yes,
But when you go out on something as simple as
a domestic or should be simple, but very rarely is
it simple, you can end up dead, Dad kurtsher over what.
Speaker 10 (30:34):
Well, Unfortunately, domestics are like the most dangerous calls you
could possibly go on. The emotion levels are always higher
when people are fighting with the people they love. We
didn't know that's what we were dealing with. We just
thought we were dealing with somebody that was had shot
off some rounds and clearly was very intoxicated. Way he
(30:58):
was talking and yelling at us honestly had no point
that I expect rocks to be thrown at us. After
I got struck and then Dalton got struck and the
way he was out, I just never imagined that. In
every scenario I've been doing this for twenty seven years,
in every scenario I could play back in my head,
(31:20):
rock being hit in the head would be the last
one that I would think of.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
It has been described as a thud. You heard a thud,
and what that was was this huge rock being slammed
into Dalton's head. Described that sound.
Speaker 10 (31:40):
It It actually sounded like a huge rock hitting the
ground like a you know, it's just a sound that
it didn't bounce or anything. It just stuck. And that
sound was it hitting Dalton's head.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
And when I say for what for what? All this for?
Speaker 2 (32:01):
What?
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I'm not talking about a domestic ament. On plenty of
domestics where the woman was practically killed all right. This
guy had his bottom revote on a theft by shoplifting
and fifteen hundred marijuana plants found in the home, and
here he is hiding in the bushes. You think he's armed,
and he attacks Swanger. That's why I'm saying a POC
(32:26):
technical legal term. This should have already been behind bars.
He's growing pot in his house for Pete's sake, according
to charges manufacturing delivering drugs. Yeah, he should have already
been in jail and then allegedly hits Swanger and lands
(32:47):
him in a coma. I mean, Deputy Swinger, when you
went out, what was in your mind if you can
remember when you go into those bushes, I mean, you
thought the guy might be armed, but you went into
the bushes into the woods anyway.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
So it's a really chaotic thing and kind of has
Dipping Herscher explained. You know, we're constantly trained to assess threats,
and that's always what your mind is, especially in a
very vulnerable moment like that when you can't see, you're
an unfamiliar territory of the woods are super hard to navigating.
Speaker 8 (33:24):
You don't know if you're going to step in, and
he did it.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
The ground trip over a branch, get caught on the leads,
so you're trying to navigate the drain. You're trying to
see the threat, but it's so dark you can't turn
on your light because they din't give a beacon if
he does have a gun to where he could shoot,
and if I don't, if I recall correctly, I believe
you say. He even taunts us to turn our lights
back on. So that's making you think, like, oh, he
could be wanting to shoot. And then the way you
(33:48):
never don't think. I never until this perceive was a
threat coming from above on top of your head. And
so that is you know, you're scanning for like a
three sixty round you but you never picture something coming
down and hitting your head. So it was just just
like every other call, you're trying to assess the threat
and what's going on there. But in this particular situation,
(34:11):
we were in a complete starfus.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
A prayer vigil is held for Dalton while he's in
the ICU. Organized by the community, the prayer vigil was
held at the UT Medical Center in an effort to
show support for Dalton and his family.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Suddenly chaos.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Deputy Swinger is struck in the head with a large rock,
he collapses to the ground. In ripping footage, his fellow
deputies are seen dragging into safety a desperate race against
time to save one of their.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Own, while he is putting on a brave face. Tonight
along with fiance Stefania Pomphrey, he is facing very comprehensive
and complex surgery.
Speaker 4 (34:50):
Listen Dalton now suffers complications that stem from being on
the ventilator while in a coma trachyll stenosis. This narrow
of the trachea could be from Dalton having to be
forcefully intubated while he was having seizures, or possibly by
the breathing tube. He has already had three unsuccessful surgeries
and the next surgery he faces is very dangerous and
(35:13):
has an extremely long recovery time, and that is only
after they can find a hospital with a highly specialized
group known as a Complex Airway team.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
A Complex Airway Team, Doctor Killer Crowns.
Speaker 7 (35:27):
What is that so in this situation where the individual
or the officer sorry has a post intubation syndrome where
he's basically the tissue of his trachea was damaged from
the intubation and it's basically closing up and making his
airway smaller and smaller and smaller. They have to do
something to open that back up so he can breathe properly.
(35:50):
A complex airway team is one that's going to probably
take a pararion.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Crowns, crowns, crowns. I know in Milescale English, you had
the teacher write a sentence in dissected. Here's the verb,
here's the noun, here's the adjective average, Okay, slow it
down then all right? No problem was also very bad
when you have to have it, When you have to
(36:18):
have the ventilator, it goes down your track, your trich
you right here, I think, okay, And when you have
the ventilator forced down your trichia, it damages the trichia
or can damage the trich you. So yes, what would
that damage be? For instance, with swinger, what is the damage?
(36:39):
How bad can it be?
Speaker 7 (36:42):
So your mucoastal membranes like your mouth are very very
easily disrupted or damage, And you're pushing this tube into
the throw while someone's seizing, and that damage can be
a rubbing away of the mucoastal lining, basically making an
ulcer and ulceration, and he has this tube in it
throat for a period of time and that ulceration can't heal.
(37:03):
So how it heals is by scarring, and the scarring
itself can become so bad that it will decrease the
airway and that is what has happened to the officers.
His scarring from the intubation has decreased his airway space,
making it hard for him to breathe. And what they're
going to have to do is take a piece of
his trachea out and try and attach the unaffected areas
(37:25):
of his trachea back together, which is called an anastmosis,
or potentially do a reconstruction where they use Carlage graphs
or synthetic material to try and rebuild the area.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Crime stores with Nancy Grace, a deputy Dogg and Swanger
and Stefania. You may need to help him because I
don't know if he's going to tell me to try.
When you think about the fact you've already had three
(38:06):
very complex surgeries and now you have this ahead of you,
how are you holding up?
Speaker 2 (38:17):
It's extremely mentally daunting, because you know, we were at
a point where you're like, oh, you know the TBI
out received GCS three, which is the most severe classification
you can get. I was like out of the frying pan,
but now it feels like I'm kind of in the
fire it. So it is extremely mentally daunting thinking of
(38:38):
them cutting a portion of your airway out. But you know,
I've relied heavily in my faith, and you know, relied
heavily on God for this, and that's problem and drinking Stevania.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
I understand that there are only a few hospitals that
perform this is it because it's very dangerous and complex.
Speaker 11 (39:00):
His is a unique case because of how quickly the
scar tissue is growing again. You're supposed to the surgeries
that he had that were unsuccessful, they're supposed to last
one to two months if they don't fix the problem,
and his were lasting maybe a week where he could
(39:21):
breathe slightly easier, and then he would just feel like
he was suffocating again and it would close up further.
So he's a pretty unique case. And it's also really
close to his vote, So it's just more complex than
what a normal caiece would be.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
When it's very close to.
Speaker 10 (39:39):
Is what.
Speaker 8 (39:41):
Vocal courts. It's two centimeters below, so.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
If anything goes wrong, he won't be able to speak.
W Kurtscher. I understand that since Swanger incident, you had
a head on Collis with a fleeting suspect.
Speaker 10 (40:03):
Is that right, yes, ma'am. I was a passenger of
my trope bar with my training was driving. Yes.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
And you are facing an upcoming surgery as well.
Speaker 10 (40:16):
I've had three surgeries so far and I have a
very large surgery coming up on October thirtieth. What is
the surgery? My injury was a shattered ankle. I had
all three bones in the ankle shattered, but none of
the healing. None of the bones are healing, and after
(40:40):
several consultations and recommendation, my ankles to be amputated on
the thirtieth.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
What is your frame of mind, Deputy Kursher.
Speaker 10 (40:57):
It's an emotional roller coaster. I am trying to imagine
life without a foot. It's something that I never could imagine.
My pain is unbearable every single day of It's a
relief to know that that pain will be gone. But
I'm very sad that I'm losing my foot, and I
(41:18):
wish there was something else that could be done. But
doesn't seem like that's possible.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
When you joined the force, Kirchner, did you ever imagine
this would happen?
Speaker 10 (41:33):
No, I don't think anybody ever joins the force thinking
something's going to happen. You know, I went twenty seven
years before it happened. I've been very lucky. I'm blessed.
The agency that I work for has been fantastic, and
everybody around me has been great. But I never thought
(41:54):
that this would happen. Never.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Deputy Kirschner facing his own serious surgery, the amputation from
the ankle down after a head on collision with a
fleeing suspect. I'm donating to his GoFundMe and if you
feel so moved, it's on go fundme. Blue Line Tennessee
Ink Support Knox County Deputy Matthew Matt Kirchner k I
(42:22):
R C H N E R. He would never ask
for it on his own. I we researched it. He
did not ask us to do this. To Deputy Dalton Swinger,
You're facing a life threatening, extensive and complex surgery. What
(42:45):
is your frame of mind?
Speaker 8 (42:50):
The way I'm getting it, the way I'm encroaching it.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
Like I said, I'm relied very heavily in my face,
and I'm trying to you it's a positive thing that
God's given me a chance to see like what I'm
made of and Albasilia, I can be and I will
approach this in the absolute mindset that as painful and
growing as this is, being allowed from underneath it, do
whatever it.
Speaker 8 (43:14):
Takes to get back to having a badge on the chifs.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
And so it's terrifying, but I know, for landma heart,
no matter what happens and how bad it iss, I
want to get back to doing all love Swinger.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
One more thing. You were telling me that when you
were in a coma, or when you're about to go
into a coma, you were hearing I believe you said
a fellow deputy. I don't know if it was real,
if it was in your mind telling you you have
to keep breathing, listen, how did you make yourself keep breathing?
Speaker 10 (43:56):
And the visualization.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
I was in a concrete hallway and it was almost
like a or maybe it's like it was like flickering lights,
and I was surrounded by just you know, gray man surgeons.
Speaker 8 (44:05):
Kind of without a face.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
And I was in this hospital bit and I remember
just oring sweat, and there's a death you saying you
can live, you can do this, but you have to
keep breathing or you will die. So I put in
that visualization I was having, whether it was a dream hallucination,
I just put all of them, I as in the
basket of if I can just keep breathing, I'll make
(44:27):
it out of this. So I just remembered sitting in
that hallucination going and I just did that over and
over for what felt like an attorney in that you know,
hallucinated halway or a dream like halway.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
For those of you that are listening or watching tonight. Again,
they did not ask for this. We researched it and
found it. Please go to his GoFundMe. We are support
Deputy Dalton Swanger and family. Both of these deputies have
(44:59):
a very very long row to Hoe and I want
both of them to know how much you mean to us,
to all of us. We go about our days assuming
(45:19):
you're there, when the truth is, if you weren't there,
we wouldn't be here. Nobody would be protecting us, Nobody
would be catching the bag eyes and putting them away
from us and away from our children. But you do
(45:40):
that day and night, with no thought of your own safety.
And in addition to the Gofundmes well, you're bringing down
a power much more powerful. We are calling on a
power much greater than a dollar bill. You will both
be in our prayers until you are well. Thank you
(46:06):
for everyone joining us tonight, and now we stop to
remember an American hero officer, Brandon paul A. Storf of
Bay Saint Louis Police Department in Mississippi, just twenty three,
shot and killed in the line of duty, survived by
a grieving mother and father Ian also in law enforcement.
(46:31):
Siblings Lily Sophia, Giordana, Chloe and Andrew. American hero officer
Brandon paul Estorf. Nancy Grace signing off goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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