"Whatever it points out, maybe it'll go that way," he said. "I don't know. Maybe it will just be something to help formulate better policy."

Any citizen can ask for an investigation by the Legislature's commission, said Ramie Barker, chief of staff for state Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, D-Logan.

By law the commission can't talk about investigations, including whether or not something is being investigated, he said.

"If they have any findings, then they share them with the proper authorities, then they are made public," Barker said.

In his press release on Tuesday, Pack addressed the incident for the first time -- two weeks after Winkler was initially injured and three days after a Gazette-Mail report detailing Winkler's account.

He said an internal inquiry by the State Police had shown that Winkler was neither abused nor mistreated and that several academy staff members and basic officers in attendance had been interviewed.

According to Winkler, only he and staff members were in the room during the training.

Pack also said that the existence of clear and convincing medical evidence that Winkler's condition was a direct result of training hadn't been produced.

But medical records provided to the Gazette by the Winkler family shows a diagram of Winkler's injuries to the neck. The "Emergency Physician Record" from Thomas Memorial Hospital states that Winkler received a head injury during training at the police academy. The "context" on the form is listed as "direct blow," the severity as "moderate" and the associated symptoms as "lost consciousness."

Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.

Kanawha County Assistant Prosecutor Dan Holstein said he contacted the Legislature's Commission on Special Investigations, which agreed to investigate the April 5 incident.

"The first we became aware of it was when it was in the paper, but since that time we've been talking with a couple of different agencies about who would be the best to investigate it," Holstein said.

Princeton officer Christopher Winkler and his family say two academy trainers beat him during baton training. Winkler's mother Pamela McPeak said an instructor told her he saved her son's life when he pulled two other trainers off of Winkler after they continued to beat him while he was unconscious.

On Tuesday, Gov. Joe Manchin called for an independent panel to investigate what happened. Also Tuesday, State Police Superintendent Col. Timothy S. Pack issued a statement saying an initial investigation by State Police shows that Winkler didn't receive any direct hits to the head or neck. In the statement, Pack said the training was immediately halted when it became apparent that Winkler was in distress.

"We need to have someone independent, even of the executive branch of state government, come in," Holstein said. "From our perspective we need to have this looked at by someone independent so that the public has confidence in the results."

Gary Slater, director of the legislature's special investigation commission, said he couldn't comment on whether there was an investigation.

Slater and several other investigators with the commission are ex-state troopers. Slater has been with the commission for more than 17 years. In the early 1990s he worked on the case of former West Virginia State Police chemist Fred Zain, whose 10 years of false testimony wrongfully convicted countless defendants and cost the state millions of dollars in payments to those defendants.

On Thursday, State Police spokesman Michael Baylous reiterated that the State Police would accept an outside investigation into what happened.

"We're not opposed to whatever the Governor's office determines is appropriate in this situation," he said.

Holstein said the investigations' results would dictate what happens next, including whether someone would be prosecuted criminally.

"Whatever it points out, maybe it'll go that way," he said. "I don't know. Maybe it will just be something to help formulate better policy."

Any citizen can ask for an investigation by the Legislature's commission, said Ramie Barker, chief of staff for state Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, D-Logan.

By law the commission can't talk about investigations, including whether or not something is being investigated, he said.

"If they have any findings, then they share them with the proper authorities, then they are made public," Barker said.

In his press release on Tuesday, Pack addressed the incident for the first time -- two weeks after Winkler was initially injured and three days after a Gazette-Mail report detailing Winkler's account.

He said an internal inquiry by the State Police had shown that Winkler was neither abused nor mistreated and that several academy staff members and basic officers in attendance had been interviewed.

According to Winkler, only he and staff members were in the room during the training.

Pack also said that the existence of clear and convincing medical evidence that Winkler's condition was a direct result of training hadn't been produced.

But medical records provided to the Gazette by the Winkler family shows a diagram of Winkler's injuries to the neck. The "Emergency Physician Record" from Thomas Memorial Hospital states that Winkler received a head injury during training at the police academy. The "context" on the form is listed as "direct blow," the severity as "moderate" and the associated symptoms as "lost consciousness."

Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.