Video: Judge Rules That Cops Used ‘Brute Force’ On Philip Coleman

Ed Fox, the lawyer for the Coleman family, said Kennelly’s ruling shows that police oversight in Chicago is broken and needs to be overhauled.

“(The ruling) is important because the question of excessive force in connection with dragging Philip Coleman is no longer for a jury’s determination as this piece of the case has been now determined,” Fox said. “It is also a judicial recognition, before trial, that excessive force was indisputably used. It is also important because the supervisor on the scene … is also liable since he just stood by and let it happen, if not facilitated it happening.

“By inference, at trial, we will also contend that another supervisor on the scene, as well as the remaining officers who were in the cell where Philip was tased and choked, should also be liable for dragging Philip,” he said.

Shannon Breymaier, a City Hall spokeswoman, said the city appreciates the urgency of the case.

“Everyone in Chicago deserves answers on what happened in this incident,” Breymaier said in a statement. “That’s why one of Sharon Fairley’s first orders of business as the new chief administrator at IPRA last week was to reopen the disciplinary investigation into this incident and the mayor joins all Chicagoans in eagerly awaiting their findings.”