A man died Thursday night after getting Tasered at the Chicago Police Department's 5th District Station and again at a Far South Side hospital, authorities said.
A man died after officers used a Taser on him at the 5th District police station on the Far South Side and again at Roseland Community Hospital, authorities said.
Philip O. Coleman, 38, was arrested around 7:15 p.m. Wednesday for beating his 69-year-old mother, injuring her head and legs, police said in a statement. Coleman "became combative" and spit blood on the faces of an officer and a supervisor, police said.
On Thursday, officers were taking Coleman from the 5th District station to court when "he again became combative" and a Taser was used "to gain control of the subject," police said.
Coleman was then taken to Roseland Community Hospital "where he became physically aggressive with hospital staff and accompanying CPS officers," police said. "Once again, reasonable force was employed, including a Taser deployment, to gain control of the offender."
Coleman was admitted to Roseland, where he was given a sedative and later died, police said in the statement. The department did not release any other details of the death.
Coleman was pronounced dead at 5:47 p.m. Thursday at Roseland. An autopsy is scheduled for today.
Coleman's father, Percy Coleman, said today that police “aren’t going to get away with it.”
“My son … (has) never been in trouble,” he said. “He’s a grad of the University of Chicago. They won’t be able to run him out that he’s a drug dealer, this and that.”
Percy Coleman refused to comment further.
The Independent Police Review Authority is investigating the incident, a spokesman for the agency said.
In 2010, Chicago used federal grant money to expand its arsenal of Tasers to more than 600 -- enough to arm one officer in every beat car and outfit tactical, rapid response and other units. The city consequently saw a 329 percent jump in Taser use, from 195 incidents in 2009 to 836 in 2011.
Each Chicago police officer receives eight hours of training for initial certification, according to Chicago police Sgt. Michael Partipilo, who encourages every officer to take a Taser shock.
Partipilo told the Tribune earlier this year that he teaches officers to assess each situation, from the strength of the officer to the potential dangerousness of the suspect escaping, to decide independently what level of force to deploy. They should keep in mind, for example, that the most serious force might not be appropriate against youths, he said.
Steve Tuttle, a spokesman for Taser International, said the company considers it safe to use a Taser "back to back" on a person up to three times.
“There is not a hard and fast rule,” Tuttle cautioned.
Sometimes, both probes of a Taser do not make contact with the person and the shock is diminished, Tuttle said. "Sometimes you have to make a judgment call if the Taser is not having an effect,” he said.
Tuttle said it is not uncommon for someone to be sedated after being shocked by a Taser, but referred medical questions to the hospital.
pnickeas@tribune.com
Twitter: @peternickeas
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Man Tasered at Chicago police station and hospital dies
