'They wouldn't let me see my son,' father of Philip Coleman says

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Tuesday, December 8, 2015
'They would not let me see my son,' Philip Coleman's father says
The father of a man who died after he was Tasered in police custody said the Chicago Police Department is to blame.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- "Someone in this city needs to be responsible for killing my son. And the Chicago police are at the head of this table," the father of Philip Coleman, who was Tasered by police while handcuffed at a Far South Side lockup, said.

Percy Coleman, a former police chief with 40 years in law enforcement, said his son has no criminal background and was having a mental breakdown on the day he physically assaulted his mother.

Percy Coleman said he and a neighbor had to stand in front of his son and police to keep officers from shooting him. He said an officer threatened to shoot Coleman if he kept spitting, but Percy Coleman said his son was bleeding from the mouth and spitting everywhere.

"I went to the station that night... They would not let me see my son," Perry Coleman said. Percy Coleman said the next morning he tried again at bond court, but his son wasn't at there.

"I went to the hospital to go see him," Percy Coleman said. "My son died at 4 p.m. that day in that hospital. I sat there until 7 p.m. that night and they never told me he was dead."

Percy Coleman said he and his wife were also not told the video would be released and found out when friends saw it on TV.