Monday, April 22, 2013

Slain W.Va. sheriff coached suspect in boxing

DELBARTON, W.Va. - A West Virginia sheriff gave boxing lessons to the man charged with killing him when the suspect was a teenager.

Delbarton Boxing Club founder Tommy Diamond says he asked Sheriff Eugene Crum to coach at the club in the early 1990s when Crum was Delbarton's police chief. Diamond says that one of the boys coached by Crum was Tennis Melvin Maynard.

Diamond says he doesn't remember any arguments between Maynard and Crum.

The 37-year-old Maynard is charged with fatally shooting Crum as the sheriff ate lunch April 3 in a downtown Williamson parking lot. Maynard was shot by a deputy during a chase and remains at a Huntington hospital.