Jesse Lee Pitts said he accidentally struck Amanda Brinker with what he called a metal pipe during an interview with police on the day of Brinker's death.

The prosecution concluded its presentation of police interviews Tuesday, during the fifth day of Pitts' trial for murder. The admission came during an interview with Madison County Deputy Prosecutor Steve Koester in an interview room at the Anderson Police Department.

"There was a metal pipe laying down in the bike trails, I picked it up and I was swinging it," Pitts said, gesturing as if to indicate a pipe 12 to 14 inches long. "I turned around to look at the bike trail to see if someone was following me, I hit her and she dropped."

Pitts, 21, is charged with murder in the death of Brinker, a 14-year-old Anderson High School freshman. If convicted he faces 45 to 65 years in prison.

Even during the admission, Pitts' statement was inconsistent. At first, he said he found the pipe in the park, then he told police it was a jack handle he kept it in his car for protection.

A forensic pathologist testified that Brinker's injuries were consistent with seven or eight blows from a long, thin, metal object. Police consider the jack handle found in a car Pitts often drove to be the murder weapon.

"I was swinging it at limbs, I was swinging it at leaves, I was swinging it at little flowers on the ground," Pitts said. "I didn't know she had stopped right in front of me."