JAIL DRAGGING COSTS CITY $ 4.9M
Alderman decries CPD’s lack of crisis training after settlement with victim’s family
Beleaguered Chicago taxpayers will spend $ 4.9 million to compensate the family of a 38- year- old man who suffered a mental breakdown in 2012 and was dragged from his cell by Chicago Police officers after being shocked repeatedly with a stun gun, aldermen were told Monday.
African- American aldermen were harshly criticized for signing off on a $ 5 million settlement to the family of Laquan McDonald one week after the April 7, 2015, mayoral runoff and before a lawsuit had even been filed without asking tough enough questions or seeing the shooting video.
On Monday, the Emanuel administration helped them make amends by briefing them in small groups on the $ 4.9 million settlement to be paid to the family of Philip Coleman months after the disturbing video had been made public.
After Coleman was removed from the lockup, he was taken to Roseland Community Hospital, where he allegedly struggled with police. Once again, an officer used a stun gun to subdue him. He died hours later.
Corporation Counsel Stephen Patton also told aldermen about a second settlement — for $ 1.5 million. Ald. Anthony Beale ( 9th), former chairman of the City Council’s Police Committee, said that 2014 case stemmed from police officers’ refusal to administer an inhaler to a young man who was “crying out that he couldn’t breathe.” The man later died.
“Two more huge settlements because of the lack of crisis intervention training in the police department and the lack of sensitivity as far as what people go through in their daily lives,” Beale said.
In the Coleman case, Beale noted, Philip Coleman’s mother and father “pleaded with the police department to take their son to a mental institution.”
“The officer’s response was, ‘ We don’t do mental health. We do jail.’ That’s a total disregard” for the unique needs of the mentally challenged, Beale said.
Ald. Roderick Sawyer ( 6th), chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus, said the decision to pay the Coleman family nearly as much as the family of Laquan McDonald, the black teenager shot 16 times by a white Chicago Police officer, appears to achieve the appropriate “balancing act” between compensating the family for police abuse and protecting the interests of hard- pressed Chicago taxpayers.
Percy Coleman, the victim’s father, refused to comment on the settlement, arguing that there are still some “loose ends” to tie up. Ed Fox, an attorney representing the Coleman family, would only say that the settlement includes “non- monetary considerations” he refused to discuss.
Last week, the Chicago SunTimes disclosed that a settlement had been reached in the
“THE OFFICER’S RESPONSE WAS, ‘ WE DON’T DO MENTAL HEALTH. WE DO JAIL.’ ’’ ALD. ANTHONY BEALE, on what he says a CPD officer told Philip Coleman’s parents when they ‘‘ pleaded with the police department to take their son to a mental institution’’
Coleman case. City officials refused to disclose the amount in advance of aldermanic briefings that set the stage for an April 11 vote by the City Council’s Finance Committee.
The weeklong run- up gives Sharon Fairley, executive director of the Independent Police Review Authority, time to wrap up her reopened investigation of the Coleman case and, potentially, announce disciplinary action against the two officers before the Finance Committee signs off. In December, a federal judge found two officers liable for using excessive force on Coleman.
Ald. Leslie Hairston ( 5th) isn’t waiting for IPRA to rule. Hairston is holding a news conference on Tuesday to propose an ordinance that would abolish IPRA and replace it with what she described as a “credible civilian agency.”