CINCINNATI — A recruit with the Cincinnati Police Department was hospitalized Wednesday after police said he suffered a medical emergency following a training exercise.
CPD spokesperson Emily Szink said a 36-year-old man was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center shortly after participating in a "very physical exercise." As of Thursday afternoon, police said the recruit's condition was serious.
Fraternal Order of Police President Sgt. Dan Hils said the exercise focused on wrestling someone into a position where they could be handcuffed — training Hils said he did decades ago when he was a police recruit.
"So that type of ground wrestling is, you know, very, very strenuous stuff," Hils said. "It's very demanding, physically demanding stuff."
Hils said the recruit was not injured during the training, calling it a "very rare and somewhat unexplained medical event."
"It's serious, what happened, but I think it came from the exertion that this young man was doing at the time," Hils said. "Do people twist ankles, do people bump their knees? Those are common, quite common, but this is different."
CPD said it is reviewing the moments before and after the training that led to the recruit's medical emergency.
"Right now, the most important thing is praying and hoping that there is some sort of break and that this young man is fine," Hils said.
Police have not released the recruit's name or an update on his condition.
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