The family of a Memphis Fire recruit who landed in a coma during "Hell Night" training last year wants more than $30 million from the city, saying instructors "dehumanized" him and drove him to collapse.
According to two lawsuits filed by his family late Tuesday, on Oct. 12, 2004, James Coleman, then 41, suffered permanent brain injury after going through a series of exercises in which recruits were "hazed and harassed."
Six other dehydrated recruits were sent to hospitals that night.
Coleman and others had to carry a hose up four flights of stairs, chop wood with an ax and swing a sledge hammer on a rubber mat.
Recruits dragged a dummy 100 feet, a powered hose 100 feet, raised a 35-foot ladder on a two-story building and walked across the top of the building.
They walked a mile with a 40-pound hose pack -- twice, if anyone dropped a hose.
If they were too slow, they had to drop for push-ups.
"We think it is an arbitrary and oppressive conduct," Coleman's attorney, Jeff Rosenblum, said Wednesday.
At the time, fire officials argued that the training was necessary to produce rugged firefighters, while some experts pronounced it old-school hazing.
Fire officials say the training was carefully controlled and that they kept close tabs on recruits' vital signs, but some recruits dispute that.
City Atty. Sara Hall said Wednesday she's aware of the lawsuits.
The family has been negotiating with the city, but with no agreement in hand, the Colemans had to file by Oct. 12 or lose their chance.
"Both parties ... in good faith, did try to resolve this issue, but we literally ran into this issue that they had no choice but to file," Hall said.
The federal lawsuit claims Coleman's civil rights were violated and asks for $30 million. The circuit court suit asks for $200,000.
The lawsuit also alleges that white instructors "targeted" black recruits, like Coleman, and tried to make them quit.
In November 2004, six fire training academy officials, including the training chief, were transferred to other jobs.
Many of those officials, Fire Director Richard Arwood and the City of Memphis are listed as defendants.
In a video of "Hell Night," instructors are seen mocking and harassing recruits over a loudspeaker, riding next to them on a golf cart, urging them to give up and ring a bell to signal defeat.
The video shows exhausted recruits stumbling through drills and instructors taunting them.
According to the lawsuit, instructors told Coleman, "My 2-year-old son is stronger than you," and "They'd have to carry me off in a body bag before I'd quit."
Rosenblum said Coleman -- who spent eight weeks in a coma -- is now able to shuffle with a walker and has severely slurred speech, though it has improved.
The city is paying Coleman's medical bills.
Rosenblum and the family have met numerous times with city officials, he said.
"They sat down with us and tried to resolve it and we couldn't resolve it."
