Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - TN DEPUTY COMA, VENTILATOR AFTER BRUTAL ATTACK

Episode Date: October 24, 2025

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.

This is an I-Heart podcast. 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 a call along with his partner to help a woman instead, he has to be dragged out of. Bushes, his head bleeding, 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 us. For years, Deputy Dalton Swanger served with unwavering dedication at the Knox County Sheriff's Office, a steady force protecting his community. But one fateful call would thrust him and his team into a life-threatening confrontation that would change everything. We are being told that Deputy 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 resection because of a brutal injury he obtained on duty. and this is where it all starts. Listen. Saturday night, 10.15 p.m. Knox County, Tennessee, 9-1-1 gets a report of shots fired on Stanley Road. Deputies, followed by On Patrol Live TV show camera crew, are greeted unseen 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 from the woods curses the deputies and begins throwing rocks. Call about shots fired in Knox County, Tennessee.

But as they search the perimeter of the woods, they hear noises. Deputy Dalton Swanger investigates further. He heads into the brush. He's armed. And he has no idea what's awaiting. 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.

The dark wooded area provides cover for the suspect who claims to have a gun as he is throwing rocks at officers. Deputies spread out searching the perimeter. preventing the suspect from running and getting away. Deputy Swanger goes into the trees. The trees and brush prevent a clear view, and Swanger tells the suspect, show me your hands. It's an ambush as the suspect nails Swanger with a rock. Imagine what it takes day in, day out, to go into a darkened area where you think someone is in there armed. Yet you, Deputy Swanger, 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, you can't see. You do your duty, and that's what he did. Listen. Officers hear the ambush and see movement in the trees. Then a thud is heard as Deputy Swanger has hit full force on top of his head and falls to the ground. A deputy rushes 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 blood. Eddie Gash can be clearly seen on the deputy's head.

I want you to see what happened immediately after the attack. Listen. Show me your fucking hands. Who are you? You got no doubt. That was from On Patrol Live. To Dr. Kendall Crowns, joining as chief medical examiner, Tarrant County. He is esteemed lecturer at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU,

and star of a hit podcast, Mayhem in the Morg. Dr. Kendall Crows, thank you for being with us. Whenever 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. When he was hit with the rock, he got 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 having effects. And why he was able to speak initially is because that bleeding in his brain wasn't severe enough that it was affecting him. But as a short time continued, the bleeding started getting bigger and then he started seizing and went into a coma.

Dr. 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? 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 in further bleeding. Plus also with the depressed skull fracture pushing into the brain itself, it pushes on the brain tissue causing damage as well. Guys, I want you to brace yourself. I'm going to show you video.

Let's see it, control room. Deputies arrive to a 911 call of shots fired. They go around the residence and a woman directs them toward the woods. Deputy Swanger is about, there she is directing him back to the woods and they know the perp could be armed. And what do they do? They don't go high behind 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 he can hurt anyone deputy swanger is in the woods with another deputy watching now see the circle showing where swanger is when he is

slammed on the top of the head with a rock or a brick and 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 dragged out of the woods.

Watch this. That was from On Patrol Live. Dr. Kendall 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 like that. Yeah, it's the process of the hemorrhage in the brain getting bigger over time. Initially, it's small. And then as the bleeding increases, 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 the brain controls, like your movement, your speech and everything like that, and puts you into a coma. Thankfully, our brainstem, which covers, 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 is compromised. And that gives surgeons the opportunity to do an operation to save the individual. 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 perp. He is putting on a brave front tonight, but in that one moment, his life was changed. And now he is looking at a very, very extensive and complicated, a complex surgery called a tracheal resection, joining me

along with his fiance, Stefania Pumfrey, Deputy Dalton Swanger. Deputy, thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me, 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 little bit of what you've been through and what you're facing.

Deputy, what can you remember of that night that changed your life forever? So my partner now, Kirchner, we were working patrol, had OPL TV crew in that evening. And we hear a shot spired call come out ahead of domestic information today. So we ended up canceling the other units going to that call because we were close. And we got 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 signal was wrong, we were met by very aggressive,

verbal responses. I could tell something was wrong. He was very emotionally elevated extremely just through the roof and everything. Trying to talk to him, trying to get better and saying it was so dark that night. And you can't really tell on TV because they were using night vision, but it was just pitch dark.

And so we eventually go in the woods because if I recall correctly, there was a fence. And so we couldn't really see from that angle so we go down a hill into the woods. And once we get in the woods, we begins spain something about a 357 magnum. So that's when I turned my 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 very mistaken.

And I started hearing famous landing around us. And when that happens, the one unfolds next is I remember just being there trying, and I see a silhouette going from like a cadetcent light. The next thing I know, it's like a green firework just exploded in my face. It's the best way I can describe it. It just looked like a green starburst. Med would do most overwhelming pain in the top of my head. And my entire body locks up and I black out for what felt like a split second. And I'm on the ground.

And my entire body, I can't move it. No matter how hard I try. My body's in this lock. It's like an entire body cramp almost. 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 once he was advancing, once he was getting ready to finish the job. And I was panicking and just trying to raise my rifle just in case he was coming. A few moments later, my partner, Kirchner, walks over, and he asked him if I can get up. And, you know, I said no. And he takes my hand,

and I remember Griffin's hand as far as I possibly could. And at this point, my body's beginning to, like, loosen up, and it begins dragging me out of the wood. And I remember feeling as I'm getting drug out of the woods, and I feel something just running over my head. I just feel, you know, something pouring down to my head. It's like someone just was pouring water on my head. 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, Knox County Sheriff's Office, who was putting on a brave front tonight. But he is awaiting immediate and necessary, life-saving surgery. I want you to hear

what his friend and fellow deputy, Matt Kirchner, said. Another rock came through and hit and struck Deputy Swinger, but I didn't realize that at first because I thought it was just a rock hitting the ground. And a few seconds later, I heard my partner, Debbie Swinger, who were running and I turned around and I saw him right on the ground.

Straight out to Deputy Dalton Swanger's partner, Deputy Matthew Kirchner, his former partner. Deputy Kirchner, thank you for being with us. When I saw that video from W.A.E. It was 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 that night, Deputy Kirchner? During the originally, when I first happened, I got hit with a rock myself. And I knew that he was throwing rocks. He hit me in the arm. But the next one I thought was it was just a rock coming through the woods, and I thought it hit the ground. But like I said before, I heard Dalton gasping for air.

And so when I turned around, I saw him on the ground. I asked him if he'd 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. 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 deputies looking for swanger and 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. What happened to Deputy Swinger? This is from our friends from Peacock on patrol live. Knox County was no stranger to the public eye making periodic appearances on patrol live. But what started as another routine shift for Dalton Swanger turned into a violent ordeal, one that would send shockwaves through the Knox County Sheriff's Office.

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 go-fund me. We send our police, our law enforcement, out every day. we don't think about it. We just call 911 or we reported an accident. We don't think about what's happening with them protecting us. We take it for granted until someone like Swanger and I'd like to report Deputy Matthew Kirchner 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.

And they go to work every morning, not knowing whether they'll come home. I mean, to you, Stefani a Pumfrey, it must be excruciating, seeing him go out the door every morning and never knowing will he come home? Absolutely. It was something that I did take for granted as well. And this has changed our lives and changed our perspective on it. Guys, she is like her fiancé deputy 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.

While still unseen 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 a minute 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. Dr. Kendall Crowns, what is a ventilator? Explain. A ventilator is a machine that basically breathes for you. When you have head trauma or something like that and go into a coma and it's potential that your brain shuts off your respiratory drive and you no longer are breathing, the

machine itself will breathe for you. They place a tube down your throat that goes into your trachea and then forces oxygen in, keeping your body full of oxygen, essentially keeping you alive. Stefania Pumfrey 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. Yeah. So I lost your lives. with everybody else. And when I saw the blood start pouring out of his head,

I called him. It was as he was going into the seizure and we needed now, but he told me not to be scared and that he loved me. And that was the last I heard until I got to the hospital. And it was hours until his captain called me and said that he had actually gone into a brand mall seizure for over an hour. we don't know if he's going to be okay and you need to prepare yourself.

We're going to get you back here to see him as soon as possible. Wait, let me see Stefania again. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, I don't need the victory sign right now. I need to get back. There you are. Okay.

They told you he's having a grand mal seizure and they don't know if he's going to make it. He was just talking on the phone, right? Yeah, the last I heard was that he had told he loved me and not to be scared and then and then he seized after we got off the phone and I found out when I got to the hospital. Crime stories with Nancy Grace. This is like everyone's worst a nightmare.

Dr. Kendall Crowns, I'm so glad you're with us tonight because we need you. What is a Grand Mall seizure? So Grand Mall seizure is a large seizure where the entire body is involved. The whole body shakes. The person basically is no longer able to know what's going on in their surroundings. They're essentially everything 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 little dazed or confused, but they're still able to breathe and function, whereas a grand mal seizure is.

is a major seizure that affects the entire body and can actually put a person into an arrhythmia and cause their death. Deputy Swanger is joined by fiancée Stefania Pumfrey. Stefania, so when you get to the hospital, that's when you learn he had gone into grandma's seizures. Yes, it was a couple hours still before I learned. I had to wait for a little bit. but his captain called me a couple hours after I got to the hospital and told me that he had gone into 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 going to bring me back to see him soon. When you saw him, Stefania, describe what you saw.

He was still shaking a little bit and he wasn't. He wasn't cleaned up at all, so 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. It was my Dalton, and he just didn't look like him. He had the breathing tube in. He was covered in blood.

And the trembling from the end of the seizure was, I think, the worst part for it. What do you mean? Um, he was still, it looked to me like his body was kind of in shock, I guess, just not right. Um, and when I got there, he was still shaking just a little bit. Um, like all his muscles were just completely. What part of him was shaking? His whole body? All of him. Yeah, his chest, his shoulders, his neck, everything. And at that point, was he already on a ventilator? Yep. Yeah, he was, they had already sedated him and tried to get the seizure to stop. And that moment was probably the hardest because I called my parents and 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, pulled the hand of the officer at love. and none of us know if he's going to be okay.

And that moment is really frozen in time for me. I'll never forget seeing him for the first time like that. Did you try to talk to him? Yeah. Yeah, we all talk to him. The doctor said that they're not sure how it works, but that there's a good chance that he can still hear us. And so he said, talk to him like you normally would.

And so we all did. We all did the whole time in the coma, actually. We just, we talked to him all week. What did you say? I told him I loved him. 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 matter what happened. And that if he needed, whatever he needed in the moment, we were going to, we were going to do.

I wasn't going to leave aside. we were going to stay with him. He had everybody here. I just wanted him to know that he wasn't alone and that we were here and we were going to do anything we could forward him. Did he give any sign of response? Not until later in the coma, in the week,

but for the first three days, no. Deputy Swanger, did you hear her? so that is one of the biggest like things i think people misconceived about combs and stuff is like you do hear and so that was by far the most terrifying and dramatic part of this for me is you're almost in like a dreamlike state and so i would absolutely hear people's voices speaking to me but it was almost like i was changed in my own head uh and you're trying to perceive things like that I assumed to be that night whether it was a

dream or hallucination I don't know but I pictured being in a concrete hallway surrounded by surgeons and I was I remember I was pouring sweat in this and heaving as much as I could to breathe and I remember just visualizing another guy

I'm not shit telling me you can live and just have to be breathing you have to keep breathing like you can't stop breathing or you'll die and you know that that was really traumatic and it's through the I absolutely, you know, I heard people talking to me constantly. I wanted to respond.

I wanted to say stuff. But it's like you're just trapped in a prison of your own head. Deputy Swinger, you have answered a question for me that I've asked since 2016. 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. or Stefania, but you said that was the worst part. Why was it the worst part if you could hear her? So the part said it, the hard part was because you're so confused.

And the last thing, you have no perception of time in a coma. And I would hear so deep will be like what was telling me goodbye. And not to get too far on the weeds on this, but I lost one of my partners. and years back that was killed on a call and I spoke to him when he was on a ventilator and stuff

and you hear these people some of which it sounds like they're telling you goodbye and you just want to scream back to them like I'm not leaving I'm not leaving I'm not going to die but you can't

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 he's not been in that situation. That's a, it's a horrific thing when the people you love and are surrounded by or telling

you goodbye, and you want to respond so bad, but all you can do is hear their words of despair and how hurt they are, and you want to comfort them, but you can't. And that was a really terrifying moment for me, but the moments I did have that were really comforting with Stefania, I was like, they hear her, just she keep constantly saying, I'm here, I'm here, honey. And so as alone as I was in my head and all these horrific, just traumatic hallucinations and I don't know if you want to call them, it felt really nice to hear her say I'm here sometimes. Responding to reports of gunfire, Deputy Swanger 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.

After everything that we have seen and heard tonight, this is a miracle, a miracle that Deputy Dalton Swinger is alive, a miracle that his partner, Deputy Matthew Kirchner, is alive who has now had his own injury. Deputy Kirchner, what was going through your mind? As you see, Dalton falling. He can't stand up. And you guys are dragging him away. I was, I was in shock, but I was in, I was in survival mode at that point. When I saw him fall, I mean, 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 out and I had to leave him with a fellow deputy instead of

attending to him. And that, he's my best friend. So it really killed me seeing him like that. We're showing video right now from our friends at Peacock's on patrol live of Swinger 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 Mack Crime Stories investigative reporter, Dave, this was all about a shots fired. They go out there and risk their lives over what Dave Mack? Nancy, 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 9-1-1. That's what began all of this. You know, I just, to you, Deputy Matthew Kirsner, I don't think people get it. And you know what, Kirsner, I'm glad they don't get it. Because if they did get it, it would mean that they're exposed to crime every single day like we are. And I don't want that for other people. I want them to live in a bubble. Right?

So people like you and Swanger and me and so many other people, we hear it for them, right? Yes, ma'am. 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. Dead, Kirchner? Over what? 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 had shot off some rounds and clearly was very intoxicated way he was talking and yelling at us honestly

at no point did 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. And every scenario, I've been doing this for 27 years. In every scenario, I could play back in my head. Rock being hit in the head would be the last one that I would think of.

It has been described as a thud. You heard a thud. And what that was was this huge rock being slammed in to Dalton's head. Describe that sound. 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 lit hitting Dalton's head. And when I say, for what, for what, all this, for what? I'm not talking about a domestic event on plenty of domestics where the woman was practically killed, all right?

This guy had his bonner vote on a theft by shoplifting and 1,500 marijuana plants found in the home. And here he is, hiding in the bushes, you think he's armed, and he attacks Swinger. That's why I'm saying a POC, technical legal term, that should have already been behind bars, he's growing pot in his house for Pete's sake, according to charges, manufacturing, delivering, delivering drugs. Yeah, he should have already been in jail. And then allegedly hits Swanger and lands him in a coma.

I mean, Deputy Swanger, 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, but you went into the bushes, into the woods anyway? So it's a really chaotic thing and kind of as Debbie Herschner explained, you know, we're constantly trained to assess threats and that's always what reminds us, especially in a very

vulnerable moment like that. When you can't see, you're an unfamiliar territory where the woods are super hard to navigate. You don't know if you're going to step in a divit, the ground trip over a branch, get caught on weed, so you're trying to navigate the terrain. You're trying to see the threat, but it's so dark.

You can't turn on your light because then you 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 taunts us to turn our lights back on. So that's making you think like, oh, he couldn't be wanting to shoot him. And the way never, one thing I never until this perceived was a threat coming from above on top of your head. And so that's, you know, you're scanning for like a 360 around you, but you never picture something coming down and hitting your head. So it was, it was just like every other call, you're trying to assess the threat and what's going on there. But in this particular situation, we were in a complete start. 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. Suddenly, chaos. Deputy Swanger is struck in the head with a large rock. He collapses to the ground in gripping footage. His fellow deputies are seen bragging him to safety, a desperate race against time to save one of their own. While he is putting on a brave face tonight, along with fiancée Stefani and Pumfrey, he is facing very comprehensive and complex surgery.

Listen. Dalton now suffers complications that stem from being on the ventilator while in a coma, tracheal stenosis. This narrowing 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 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. A complex airway team. Dr. Kenlin-Crowns, what is that?

So in this situation where the individual or the officer, sorry, has a post-intubation syndrome where his basically the tissue of his trachea was damaged from the intubation and it's basically closing up and making his airway smaller and smaller, they have to do something to open that back up so he can breathe properly. A complex airway team is one that's going to probably take a portion of his trachea. Crowns, crowns, crowns. I know in middle school English, you had the teacher write a sentence and dissected. Here's the verb. Here's the noun. Here's the adjective. The adverb.

Okay. Slow it down, man. All right. No problem. I was also very bad at grammar. When you have to have the ventilator, it goes down your trache, your trache, right here, I think. Okay. And when you have to have.

Have the ventilator force down your trachea. It damages the trachea or can damage the trachea. So what would that damage be? For instance, with Swanger, what is the damage? How bad can it be? So your mucosal membranes like your mouth are very, very easily disrupted or damage. And you're pushing this tube into the throat while someone's seizing. And that damage can be a rubbing away of the mucosal lining,

basically making an ulcer, an ulceration. And he has this tube in his throat for a period of time and that ulceration can't heal. 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 officer. Is 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 of his trachea back together, which is called an anastomosis, or potentially do a reconstruction where they use cartilage graphs or synthetic material to try and rebuild the area. And Stefania, you may need to help him

because I don't know if he's going to tell me the truth. When you think about the fact you've already had three very complex surgeries and now you have this ahead of you. How are you holding up? It's extremely mentally daunting because, you know, we were at a point where you're like, oh, you know, the TBI I received G.C.

C.S3, 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 fire with it. So it is extremely mentally daunting, thinking of 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 probably a great comfort. Stefania, I understand that there are only a few hospitals that perform this. Is it because it's very dangerous and complex? This is a unique case because of how quickly the scar tissue is growing again.

You're supposed, the surgeries that you had that were unsuccessful, they're supposed to last one to two months if they don't fix the problem. And his more lasting maybe a week where he could 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 vocableness. So it's just more complex than what a normal case would be.

When it's very close to his what? Vocal courts. It's two centimeters below. So if anything goes wrong, he won't be able to speak. Yes. Deputy Kirchner, I understand that since swan, incident. You had a head-on collision with a fleeing suspect. Is that right? Yes, ma'am. I was a passenger of my patrol car with my trainee who was driving. Yes.

And you are facing an upcoming surgery as well? I've had three surgeries so far, and I have a very large surgery coming up on October 30th. 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 several consultations and recommendations, my ankles to be amputated on the 30th. What is your frame of mind, Deputy King?

Kercher? It's an emotional roller coaster. I'm trying to imagine life without a foot. It's something that I never could imagine. My pain is unbearable every single day. 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 wish there was something else that could be done,

but it doesn't seem like that's possible. When you joined the force, Kurchner, did you ever imagine this would happen? No, I don't think anybody ever joins the force thinking something's going to happen. You know, I went 27 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 that this would happen, never. Deputy Kirchner 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 GoFundMe, Blue Line, Tennessee, Inc. Support Knox County Deputy Matthew

Matt Kirchner K-I-R-C-H-N-E-R. He would never ask for it on his own. We researched it. He did not ask us to do this. To Deputy Dalton Swanger, you're facing a life-threatening,

extensive and complex surgery. What is your frame of mind? The way I'm getting it, the way I'm approaching it. Like I said, I've relied very heavily in my face, and I'm trying to view it as a positive thing that God's given me a chance to see what I'm made of and how resilient I can be. And I'm going to approach this to the absolute mindset that as painful and grueling is this being, you know, all right off from underneath it, whatever it takes to get back to having the bad job. chest. And so it's terrifying, but I don't know further in my heart, that no matter what happens and how bad I get it's, I want to get back to doing what I love. Swanger, 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. How did you make yourself keep breathing? In the visualization, I was in a concrete hallway, and it was almost like a horror movie. It's like it was like flickering lights, and I was surrounded by, you know, gray men surgeons kind of without a face. And I was in this hospital bed, and I remember just pouring sweat. And there was a deputy 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, a hallucination, I just put all of my heads into the basket of if I can just keep breathing, I'll make it out of this. So I just remember sitting in that hallucination going, and I just did that over and over for what felt like in eternity in that, you know,

hallucinated holing or a dreamlike hallway. For those of you that are listening or watching tonight, again, they did not. 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 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 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 bad guys and putting them away from us and away from our children. But you do that day and night with no thought of your own safety. and in addition to the GoFundMe's, we are 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 for everyone joining us tonight.

And now we stop to remember an American hero, Officer Brandon Paul, of Bay St. Louis Police Department, Mississippi, just 23, shot and killed in the line of duty. Survived by a grieving mother and father Ian also in law enforcement. Siblings Lily, Sophia, Jordana, Chloe, and Andrew. American Hero, Officer Brandon Paul Estorff. Nancy Grace, signing off. Goodbye, friend.