Churchill, Troy Ply

September 9, 2008

The start time is 1239 hours on September the 9th of 2008. This is Detective Mickey Cohn, and I am here with...

Cohn

...gonna have you say your name and spell it for me, please.

Churchill

Troy Churchill. T-R-O-Y C-H-U-R-C-H-I-LL.

Cohn

Alright, Troy, what's your date of birth?

Churchill Cohn

And what's your address?

Churchill

x

Cohn

How do you spell that?

Churchill

x

Cohn

Okay. And your home phone number?

Churchill Cohn

And do you have a uh, cell phone?

Churchill

Yeah, that's my cell, we don't have a phone...

Page 2 of 9 Statement: Troy Churchill / Case #08197(d) September 9, 2008

Cohn

...That your cell phone? Okay. This statement is being tape-recorded. Does this meet with your approval?

Churchill

Yes.

Cohn

I am taking this statement in reference to the events of, on August the 20th, 2008, that occurred during the PRP football play...practice. Please describe the events of August the 20th from the beginning to the end of practice in your own words.

Churchill

Uh, basically, we started practice, everyone was just kinda slackin', Coach Stinson was trying to get us to work hard, so he told us to sell out, during the whole practice. So it went normal until later on in the practice we uh, we, we had just came from gettin' a water break and everybody was walkin' back and Coach Stinson, he just told us to get in line, so started runnin', and we ran for a while, then afterwards, after we ran, he told us to go under the shade tree. And some, like during while we was runnin', like, like five people, they was like laughin' and playin' around while they was runnin'. And so after we was done runnin', they tried to go get some water and Coach Stinson told 'em no and come back under the shade tree and have the meeting like that we was supposed to. And I guess that's what parents got that confused with, so...

Cohn

...Okay.

Churchill

That's about it, for real.

Page 3 of 9 Statement: Troy Churchill / Case #08197(d) September 9, 2008

Cohn

Alright. How are water breaks given? Are they given individually or are they given as teams...

Churchill

It's like in different, like what, what position we play sometimes receivers go, sometimes quarterbacks go, linebackers go, it's like different, different sections.

Cohn

Sorta like groups.

Churchill

Yeah.

Cohn

Or whatever, you know, like position groups, somethin' like that.

Churchill

Yes.

Cohn

Alright. On August the 20th, how many water breaks did you take?

Churchill

I took about three or four.

Cohn

And after the last water break, what did the practice consist of? What did y'all do after the last water break?

Churchill

Run.

Cohn

Okay. And when you say "run" what does that mean? Uh...

Churchill

Did gassers, like you go up, back, up, back, only from side to sideline.

Cohn

Okay. So one gasser is sideline to the other sideline, back...to, back, to back?

Page 4 of 9 Statement: Troy Churchill / Case #08197(d) September 9, 2008

Churchill

Um-hmm.

Cohn

So it's a total of basically four full laps. Right?

Churchill

...Um-uh. Uh-huh.

Cohn

So that'd be like a total of 200 yards per gasser. It's 50 yards over, 50 yards back...

Churchill

...Yeah...

Cohn

...50 yards over, and 50 yards back, and then...and then you all have...when you do that, you're broken in to two groups?

Churchill

From little...like defensive backs, quarterback, receivers, and then the other group is like linemens. (sic)

Cohn

Okay. Alright. Then you all do that and there's two groups. So you get the first group, those are more like skilled players...

Churchill

...Um-hmm...

Cohn

...the second group big guys, or whatever it's called...

Churchill

Um-hmm.

Cohn

Okay. And what group were you in?

Churchill

I'm with the skilled guys.

Cohn

Okay. How many gassers did your group do?

Churchill

I really do not remember...

Page 5 of 9 Statement: Troy Churchill / Case #08197(d) September 9, 2008

Cohn

...Yeah...

Churchill

...I just remember runnin' a lot.

Cohn

Do you have any idea, you could give like a ballpark figure?

Churchill

Well, I'd say around 20 somethin'.

Cohn

Okay. That's, you know, even keep count, obviously, you know, so uh...

Churchill

...Yeah.

Cohn

It's a guesstimation. How many...how long of a time period do you think you all ran gassers? Like uh, the amount of time...like an hour, half hour...

Churchill

Seemed like...seemed like a hour. It was pro'bly about like 45 minutes. Pro'bly, to the most.

Cohn

Okay. Before uh, okay, when you all were doin' the sprints, how many sprints do you think you did before you took your gear off?

Churchill

About like eight. (Whispers) About eight. I'm tryin' to remember. I can't remember that much, for real.

Cohn

Okay. I mean, we understand you're not gonna know exactly, but a guesstimation's fine...

Churchill

Yeah.

Cohn

So maybe about eight before taking your gear off. How many after you take your gear off?

Page 6 of 9 Statement: Troy Churchill / Case #08197(d) September 9, 2008

Churchill

...remember. So hot. (Laughs). I can't remember that much. I think it was around like 12. I can't remember, for real.

Cohn

Okay. I'll just put the rest of 'em.

Churchill

Um-hmm.

Cohn

Alright. So you did eight, maybe, and then the rest of 'em was without gear. Right?

Churchill

Um-hmm.

Cohn

Now did you or any of your teammates ask for water or water breaks, or try to get water during the runnin' of the gassers?

Churchill

Not that I remember. Didn't nobody say, 'cause we don't never...like we don't never try to ask for water 'cause he'd try to get us like, if we would run harder, we'll finish quicker.

Cohn

Um-hmm.

Churchill

I guess people were slackin' too much and they knew that we don't get water so they didn't ask.

Cohn

Okay. And you, you said that at the end of the practice...so y'all finished your gassers...

Churchill

Had our meeting and then got water.

Cohn

Okay. But you said it's, so you all, as you all are finishing gassers, he told you all to meet up...

Churchill

Under the shade tree.

Page 7 of 9 Statement: Troy Churchill / Case #08197(d) September 9, 2008

Cohn

Under the shade tree.

Churchill

Uh-huh.

Cohn

And then a couple were walkin' up towards, to get water when y'all were meetin'?

Churchill

Uh-huh.

Cohn

And then what did he say?

Churchill

He told 'em to come back 'cause it wasn't time...we had to talk first 'cause I guess, like he was mad 'cause we wasn't practicin' hard enough.

Cohn

Um-hmm.

Churchill

And, and he knew that we could do better.

Cohn

Okay. Did you or any of your teammates become ill during the running of sprints?

Churchill

Umm, only person I remember was Antonio.

Cohn

Okay. And you know when that was? Beginning...middle...end of the gassers?...

Churchill

It was like right after we took our uh, equipment off.

Cohn

Okay.

Churchill

About like the middle.

Cohn

Did you see anybody else become ill...throw up or fall out or anything like that?

Page 8 of 9 Statement: Troy Churchill / Case #08197(d) September 9, 2008

Churchill

I seen, like when we was goin' up towards the shade tree, that's when I seen Max fall out.

Cohn

Okay. Did you see anybody else throw up or...

Churchill

Um-umm. That's, that's the only (inaudible) I see.

Cohn

(Inaudible). Okay. During any practices this year, have you personally seen or heard of any teammates being injured or quitting the team?

Churchill

Um-umm. No, sir.

Cohn

Has anyone influenced you in any way to withhold information or change any of the facts that actually occurred during the practice?

Churchill

Nope. He always tell us to speak the truth.

Cohn

Is this statement and everything you've told me today truthful?

Churchill

Yes.

Cohn

Is there anything else that we haven't covered or anything else that you wanna tell us that, or to say that we haven't talked about yet? Anything else you wanna add?

Churchill

No.

Cohn

Alright. This concludes the interview. The time is now 1247.

END OF STATEMENT

Page 9 of 9 Statement: Troy Churchill / Case #08197(d) September 9, 2008

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