A local man suffered severe chemical burns and has been hospitalized after police believe a meth lab he was operating exploded on him.
Thirty-six-year-old David G. Hensley, of Rockholds, was taken to Baptist Regional Medical Center Thursday afternoon with burns over 30 percent of his body. Hospital officials contacted police and informed them the burns were consistent with those caused by anhydrous ammonia – one of the principal ingredients in the production of methamphetamine.
Hensley was transported from BRMC to the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington for treatment.
"We’ve not been able to talk to him much so we don’t know what he has to say about it," said Corbin Police Public Affairs Officer Rob Jones.
Police, however, searched Hensley’s residence, and property, on McNeil Corn Creek Road in Rockholds and found at least one fully functional meth lab near a pond atop a hill near his house. Jones said there were several "one-step" meth labs being operated there. Hensley was mixing the ingredients for meth in numerous soda bottles.
"He had about two gallons of meth oil up there so he’d been working on it," Jones said. "That’s quite a bit of meth oil."
Jones said police believe Hensley was tending to his meth labs when one of the bottles exploded on him and splattered the side of his body. He said the burns covered from his chest to his ankles.
"When it gets on you, it peels the skin off. It’s very painful," Jones said.
Jones said Hensley doesn’t have a drug-related criminal history and was not someone who was on the police radar as a drug trafficker.
Hensley’s wife, Sandra Hensley, 54, was arrested on unrelated warrants out of Knox County for non-payment of fines. He said she will not be charged with any drug crimes related to the meth labs.
"She wasn’t up there. We don’t think she knew about it," Jones said. "She might have been in the past, but as of today, we don’t think so."
Police found nothing illegal inside Hensley’s home after a search. Up near the pond, all manner of methamphetamine ingedients and other items were seized as evidence.
Jones said Hensley will likely be indicted for manufacturing methamphetamine, a felony, when the next grand jury meets.
Corbin Police Officers Coy Wilson, Jim Miller, and Glenn Taylor Jr. all investigated the case.
