Nearly a year after a Kansas City firefighter died during what fire department officials at the time called “a training exercise,” Fire Chief Ross Grundyson issued a statement Friday providing previously withheld details surrounding the swimming accident that killed 33-year-old Kyle Brinker.
The explanation comes two days after The Kansas City Star reported for the first time that Brinker had drowned during that exercise at the swimming pool at the Gladstone Community Center last Sept. 17.
The fire department had previously withheld that information, stating only that Brinker died after suffering “a medical emergency during a training exercise.” The department typically discloses the circumstances of a line of duty death when it occurs…