CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Kanawha County prosecutor Mark Plants will not press charges against the police instructors involved in the April training incident that left Princeton Police Officer Christopher Winkler with a blood clot in his brain.

The decision comes after prosecutors reviewed the independent investigation report by the West Virginia Commission on Special Investigations.

On April 5, Winkler participated in required multiple assailant training where two instructors acted as assailants. Two troopers -- C.R. Holbert and J.M. Comer -- and Cpl. Michael McConihay from the Charleston Police Department were involved in the training.

In May, Plants requested that the commission investigate the incident.

None of the witnesses involved in the investigation told the commission that they saw Winkler struck after he went down, said Dan Holstein, Kanawha County assistant prosecutor.

A doctor involved with treating Winkler also said that Winkler's injuries were consistent with that type of training, Holstein said.

"There was never a doubt in my mind that there was no wrongdoing on our part," said Maj. Mark DeBoard, commandant of the West Virginia State Police Academy. "I've maintained from the very beginning that the staff of the State Police Academy acted with 100 percent integrity."

Plants provided a redacted copy of the report to the Gazette on Monday.

Plants said his policy is to review investigative reports, then return them to the agency that produced them, so they can be released to the public. He said he made an exception in this case because by law the Commission on Special Investigations can't release their reports.

Commission Investigator Carl Hammons, who retired as a detective from Charleston Police, prepared the report.

Winkler received the blood clot during the multiple assailant training and not during previous boxing training or because of a pre-existing condition, according to Holstein.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Kanawha County prosecutor Mark Plants will not press charges against the police instructors involved in the April training incident that left Princeton Police Officer Christopher Winkler with a blood clot in his brain.

The decision comes after prosecutors reviewed the independent investigation report by the West Virginia Commission on Special Investigations.

On April 5, Winkler participated in required multiple assailant training where two instructors acted as assailants. Two troopers -- C.R. Holbert and J.M. Comer -- and Cpl. Michael McConihay from the Charleston Police Department were involved in the training.

In May, Plants requested that the commission investigate the incident.

None of the witnesses involved in the investigation told the commission that they saw Winkler struck after he went down, said Dan Holstein, Kanawha County assistant prosecutor.

A doctor involved with treating Winkler also said that Winkler's injuries were consistent with that type of training, Holstein said.

"There was never a doubt in my mind that there was no wrongdoing on our part," said Maj. Mark DeBoard, commandant of the West Virginia State Police Academy. "I've maintained from the very beginning that the staff of the State Police Academy acted with 100 percent integrity."

Plants provided a redacted copy of the report to the Gazette on Monday.

Plants said his policy is to review investigative reports, then return them to the agency that produced them, so they can be released to the public. He said he made an exception in this case because by law the Commission on Special Investigations can't release their reports.

Commission Investigator Carl Hammons, who retired as a detective from Charleston Police, prepared the report.

Winkler received the blood clot during the multiple assailant training and not during previous boxing training or because of a pre-existing condition, according to Holstein.

Winkler's mother, Pamela McPeak told the Gazette that an instructor told her in the hospital after her son was injured that he saved Winkler's life by pulling two other instructors off Winkler when they continued to beat him while he was unconscious.

In her interview with Hammons, she said the statement was made by the officer to Winkler's father. Winkler's father, Paul Winkler, also told investigators that that is what he was told by an unidentified officer.

The doctor who was allegedly present at the time, Dr. Richard Coulon, did not hear the officer say he had pulled anyone off of Winkler, Holstein said.

Winkler, who has since finished his certification at the academy, said he didn't expect them to find any malicious intent.

"It's the state investigating the state. I didn't expect much from them," he said. "I don't know what happened to me. I know the pain was a lot more severe when I came to."

DeBoard said the multiple assailant training continues to be a part of training at the academy. He said the instruction process is always under review but that no changes were made specifically because of what happened to Winkler.

Four people were hurt in the most recent round of multiple assailant training, all instructors, DeBoard said.

"A lot of times instructors come out on the short end of the stick," he said.

DeBoard participated in the training himself during the last class. A student hit him in the back and compressed some of his vertebrate. He's been seeing a chiropractor.

"We still stand by the training. It's good, realistic and necessary training," he said.

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