But Salt Lake City lawyer Clark Newhall, a former emergency room doctor, said the Veterans Administration Medical Center took too long to provide Lund proper diagnostic treatment and now appears to be “dragging its feet” in caring for his potentially deadly injury.

Witnesses say Lund, a regular fixture at the duck pond at Liberty Park, was tackled by police officers on Nov. 25. The officers apparently believed Lund was carrying a gun.

No weapon was found on the 74-year-old Korean War-era veteran, who moments earlier had gotten into an altercation with a man whose dog, running without a leash in violation of the park's rules, had been chasing the ducks Lund was trying to feed.

Police reports indicate the dog owner claimed Lund threatened him with a gun. The reports say officers responded by going “hands on” with the suspect. Witnesses said that meant throwing the senior citizen to the ground and dragging him across a concrete sidewalk.

Lund has issued a notice of his intent to sue Salt Lake City for "wrongful and excessive force."

That suit is expected to be filed in the next two weeks. Police officials are withholding comment, saying the matter is under investigation by the department's internal affairs department.

Now, Newhall said, Lund has been diagnosed with a subdural hematoma - bleeding of the brain most often caused by a traumatic head injury.

While it is medically possible that the hematoma may have existed before the incident with police, Newhall said, Lund “only developed neurological symptoms after they beat him up, so it sure seems likely that's when it occurred.”

Meanwhile, Lund is having trouble negotiating the V.A. bureaucracy. Administrators wouldn't provide Lund with records of a C.T.-scan taken three weeks after the police altercation and delayed in providing an MRI, even as Lund's symptoms worsened, said Newhall, a medical malpractice specialist with several high-profile and big-money settlements to his credit.

The final straw, Newhall said, was when a doctor who was set to go on a vacation suggested delaying Lund's care until after he returned.

“I have not, in my experience, had a great deal of cooperation from the V.A. under any circumstances, even when they have made egregious errors," the attorney said.

The V.A. has been weathering a storm of criticism in the wake of revelations about active-duty medical bureaucracy that many veterans say is old hat to anyone who has ever been treated at a veterans hospital.

V.A. public affairs officer Susan Huff said she wouldn't answer to Lund's allegations without consent from the patient. Newhall said Lund has provided that consent but she didn't contact him to verify that

mlaplante@sltrib.com