Tyrone N. Butts
APE Reporter
3
Warrant issued for JPD officer
Jackson police detectives obtained an arrest warrant Wednesday for a fellow officer who has been accused of having sex with a 13-year-old girl he mentored, officials said.
Officer Perry Coleman, a patrol officer who has worked with the Jackson Police Department since 1992, met the girl a couple of years ago through the police Explorer program at Powell Middle School, said the girl's grandmother. The Explorer program is designed to help teach discipline to youth and have them become interested in police work.
Coleman has been placed on administrative leave with pay while separate internal and criminal investigations are ongoing regarding the statutory rape charge, Po
lice Chief Robert Moore said. Coleman had not been arrested late Wedn
esday.
When arrested, Coleman would be the second Jackson police officer arrested since July 2002. Before Moore's arrival in 2002, the department had been plagued by officer arrests. In 2000, a dozen were arrested on various charges, including extortion, sexual battery and drug violations.
"It is a sad day for us," Moore said, "but we are going to move forward."
Coleman was off duty Monday when the alleged rape occurred at his home, Moore said.
The accuser's grandmother attended a Tuesday news conference where Moore announced the allegations because she said she wanted to "make sure this man gets off the streets." The Clarion-Ledger does not identify people who allege sexual assault.
Coleman and the girl had lost contact with one another after the girl left the Explorer program, but met again about two weeks ago, the grandmother said.
"They were talking with
eac
h other with the mother's OK because she never imagined anything like this," the grandmother said. "He's a police officer an
d should be a good role model."
Coleman and the girl went shopping Monday, then stopped by Coleman's house, the grandmother said.
"He went into another room and she was alone watching TV," the grandmother said. "A few minutes later, he came back and turned off the TV. She said she got up because she thought they were about to leave. But he pushed her down on the couch and held her.
"She was begging, pleading, but he wouldn't let her up. He penetrated her," she said.
Police would not say whether the girl was taken to a hospital.
Coleman was the first Jackson police officer to live in a Habitat for Humanity house at 280 Manship St. through the department's Midtown community policing effort in 1996. He moved out in 1998.
He told the The Cla
rion-Led
ger he moved because he thought the city should help him pay his utilities and house note since he had a police office in his home. Neighbors and Midtown businesses circulated a petition asking the cit
y to bring him back, but another officer moved into the house a year later.
"My dealings with him were always positive," said Wydett Hawkins, owner of Wasco Town Coin Laundry on Bailey Avenue. "He seemed concerned about the business community and was sincere about what he was doing. It's hard to imagine him doing something like this."
Andrew Horne, an 85-year-old Lamar Street resident, said Coleman often checked on the elderly in Midtown.
"I hated to see him go," Horne said. "He knew my daughter and always was respectful to us. It don't add up from what I knew of him."
******
What's that smell?
T.N.B.
Warrant issued for JPD officer
Jackson police detectives obtained an arrest warrant Wednesday for a fellow officer who has been accused of having sex with a 13-year-old girl he mentored, officials said.
Officer Perry Coleman, a patrol officer who has worked with the Jackson Police Department since 1992, met the girl a couple of years ago through the police Explorer program at Powell Middle School, said the girl's grandmother. The Explorer program is designed to help teach discipline to youth and have them become interested in police work.
Coleman has been placed on administrative leave with pay while separate internal and criminal investigations are ongoing regarding the statutory rape charge, Po
lice Chief Robert Moore said. Coleman had not been arrested late Wedn
esday.
When arrested, Coleman would be the second Jackson police officer arrested since July 2002. Before Moore's arrival in 2002, the department had been plagued by officer arrests. In 2000, a dozen were arrested on various charges, including extortion, sexual battery and drug violations.
"It is a sad day for us," Moore said, "but we are going to move forward."
Coleman was off duty Monday when the alleged rape occurred at his home, Moore said.
The accuser's grandmother attended a Tuesday news conference where Moore announced the allegations because she said she wanted to "make sure this man gets off the streets." The Clarion-Ledger does not identify people who allege sexual assault.
Coleman and the girl had lost contact with one another after the girl left the Explorer program, but met again about two weeks ago, the grandmother said.
"They were talking with
eac
h other with the mother's OK because she never imagined anything like this," the grandmother said. "He's a police officer an
d should be a good role model."
Coleman and the girl went shopping Monday, then stopped by Coleman's house, the grandmother said.
"He went into another room and she was alone watching TV," the grandmother said. "A few minutes later, he came back and turned off the TV. She said she got up because she thought they were about to leave. But he pushed her down on the couch and held her.
"She was begging, pleading, but he wouldn't let her up. He penetrated her," she said.
Police would not say whether the girl was taken to a hospital.
Coleman was the first Jackson police officer to live in a Habitat for Humanity house at 280 Manship St. through the department's Midtown community policing effort in 1996. He moved out in 1998.
He told the The Cla
rion-Led
ger he moved because he thought the city should help him pay his utilities and house note since he had a police office in his home. Neighbors and Midtown businesses circulated a petition asking the cit
y to bring him back, but another officer moved into the house a year later.
"My dealings with him were always positive," said Wydett Hawkins, owner of Wasco Town Coin Laundry on Bailey Avenue. "He seemed concerned about the business community and was sincere about what he was doing. It's hard to imagine him doing something like this."
Andrew Horne, an 85-year-old Lamar Street resident, said Coleman often checked on the elderly in Midtown.
"I hated to see him go," Horne said. "He knew my daughter and always was respectful to us. It don't add up from what I knew of him."
******
What's that smell?
T.N.B.
