Damon trial continues

The first day of testimony on April 23 in the open murder and first degree child abuse trial of Marshall man Chadwick Damon ended with the jury viewing a police video tape of Damon being interrogated by Marshall police officers Sgt. Scott McDonald and Sgt. Josh Lankerd on July 12, 2007.
That is the date that Damon called 911 to report that his live-in girlfriend’s daughter, 4-year-old Mackenzie Vandenheede, who was under Damon’s care that day, was unresponsive after he said he found her on the floor of her bedroom.
Five days later on July 17, Mackenzie died at Bronson Hospital as a result of blunt trauma to the back of the head.
During the interrogation, both officers asked Damon several times if he was being completely open about what happened that day and specifically about the events between 3 p.m. – when Damon said he put Mackenzie down for a nap, and 5:54 p.m.– when Damon called 911.
“Are you being 100-percent truthful about finding her on the floor?” asked McDonald, who moments later told Damon to “put the cards on the table.”
Lankerd told Damon, then 20, that he was at a crossroads in his life.
“What is your path?” said Lankerd. “We’re just looking for the truth.”
The interrogation took place after Damon was charged with disorderly conduct following an altercation with the two officers after Mackenzie’s transport to Oaklawn Hospital, in which pepper spray was used to subdue Damon and his anger, a point brought up several times in the video tape.
“Chad, I want to believe you, I really do,” said McDonald, who earlier in the tape told Damon he “snapped” when the officers approached him. “But, I could see the rage in your eyes on Prospect St. (where the altercation took place, adjacent to the hospital)…Chad, was it an accident, what happened today?”
Damon responded crying, “I didn’t touch her today. (July 12).”
Lankerd then told Damon that he had unresolved issues that were getting the best of him.
“You let it build up and you don’t talk,” said Lankerd. “We all do things. Sometimes accidents happen. I want to know if that’s what happened (with Mackenzie).”
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