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2 Investigators: Cop In Jail Video Had Prior Record

(CBS) – One of the police officers involved in a 2012 scuffle with a detained Chicago man who later died has a criminal record – one that did not stop him from being promoted within the Chicago Police Department.

CBS 2's Dave Savini dug into the backgrounds of some of the officers who crowded into Philip Coleman's cell and struggled with him before one of the cops dragged Coleman's limp, handcuffed body through a corridor.

Coleman, who had no criminal record, later died with 50 bruises and abrasions, says the Coleman family attorney, Ed Fox. Fox filed a lawsuit, saying Coleman, a University of Chicago graduate, was literally "Tased" to death with a stun gun.

"I want justice," says Jeffery Coleman, Philip Coleman's brother.

CBS 2 aired excerpts of the video late last year. It shows Sgt. William Meador grabbing Coleman's legs.

Fox faults Sgt. Meador for not stopping the struggle in Coleman's cell. He notes Meador is later seen laughing on one of the surveillance tapes.

"Meador didn't do anything to stop it. It looks like he was exacerbating it and facilitating it by laughing at it," Fox tells Savini.

It turns out Sgt. Meador was the only one in Coleman's cell with a prior criminal record.

He was found guilty in 2000 of discharging a firearm and two counts of aggravated assault.

Court records and witnesses say he was off-duty, in uniform and drunk as he left a bar in the 5400 block of South Pulaski. Locked out of his car, he shot two bullets into it.

Witnesses tell CBS 2 he then drove his car into a neighborhood, pointing his weapon at several people along the way. One alleged victim says he drove in the wrong lane, hit a car and then aimed his gun at two teenage girls walking home from school.

Jeffery Coleman, told about the incident, says it's "unbelievable" Meador wasn't fired, and went from patrol officer to sergeant with that kind of a court record.

"That should infuriate Chicagoans," the surviving Coleman says.

Savini found Sgt. Meador walking his dog, but he declined comment.

Another sergeant involved in the struggle with Philip Coleman was Tommy Walker, who ordered the use of the stun gun.

Under oath, Walker claimed he caught the jailed man after he was hit with the Taser, but Fox, the attorney, says the video shows otherwise.

"He grabbed by his head and pulled him down near him and put him in a choke hold," Fox says.

Now retired, Walker lives in Colorado. He was found liable for allowing Coleman to be dragged, according to a ruling in the Coleman family's lawsuit.

The judge also found Officer Keith Kirkland, who is seen dragging Coleman's body in the video, used excessive force.  Kirkland also declined to talk when Savini confronted him.

The Independent Police Review Authority originally cleared all the officers of wrongdoing. But after the video aired, a new IPRA investigation was launched; it is still pending.

Since CBS 2 uncovered Sgt. Meador's past convictions, Fox has requested he give a new deposition.

The civil suit is set for trial next month.

Philip Coleman suffered a mental breakdown and police were called in December 2012. They say officers should have taken him to a hospital for psychiatric care, rather than to a police station where he ended up.

Records show a Taser was fired at Coleman as many as 17 times.

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