This is the 42nd in an award-winning series featuring close encounters with death by Jamaicans.

BY HG HELPS

Editor-at-Large

helpsh@jamaicaobserver.com

POLICE Corporal Cliff Coleman has stood at death’s door, knocked on it, but changed his mind about going inside at the last minute.

Coleman, 43, had racked up 24 years and nine months’ experience in the Jamaica Constabulary when he was shot six times by a member of the notorious Spanish Town-headquartered Klansman Gang. In a showdown in Greater Portmore, he fought back gallantly, not only holding onto his life, but wounding his aggressor and forcing him to back off.

It was late September 2005. Coleman, who was assigned to the Portmore police as a detective, was collecting information for a case file in a robbery matter before the court and had stepped out of his car to make enquiries when the Klansman gang member pounced on him.

“The man came up behind me and said, ‘Don’t move’, Coleman told the Jamaica Observer last week.

“When he said that, I realised that he was not police, family or friend, so I turned sideways and by that time I was looking into the gun about 10 feet away. By the time I started to reach for my gun, he started to fire. I could see everything. I realised that the place started to echo, so I knew that I got shot somewhere up the top of my body,” Coleman said.

The detective had been shot in the throat with what turned out to be a 9mm pistol. The bullet flew through his trachea and the still alert Coleman had to step up the pace as he tried to defend himself in what seemed like an action-packed movie.

“So I started to fire back and he ran across to the parking lot to where my car was. He shot me two more times in my face. He was still firing but he was running behind the cars, so I could not get to fire at him,” he said.

Coleman said his training kicked in and he deliberately forced his racing heart to slow down and made an effort to relax, knowing that he had been hit badly as he was bleeding heavily through his mouth. But the gunman wasn’t about to relent.

“When he realised that I hadn’t dropped, he shot me again, and that one was the hottest one. I felt cramped. My head was numb,” the cop said.

“I changed the magazine in my gun and it was only when he came out in the open that I got to shoot him. I didn’t know where he got shot, because he dropped to the ground, but got up back. That time he decided that he was going to kill me and I decided that he would not kill me today — I told myself that it was not the day for me to die,” Coleman related.

The gunman, determined to kill the cop, fired another shot and hit Coleman in the hip. At the same time, his cronies started to come down to the area to team up with him.

“Blood was starting to come down in my face, but I closed my left eye and fired at them and they split up in two sides. All the time the first gunman was still firing, because I think he decided that I had to drop,” Coleman revealed.

Another bullet pierced the sleuth’s right foot, but luckily missed his bones so there was no break.

Knowing that he had been badly shot up, Coleman opted to remain calm. He was coughing up blood; a sign that he had a wound to the upper body. He was swallowing blood, and, at the same time, spitting up a portion to prevent his lungs being filled with the fluid.

“The first gunman went behind a sand heap and I raised the gun and hit him and he fell, but he didn’t die. At that point I crawled out onto the road and a man saw me and said ‘Indian, come mek mi carry you to hospital’,” Coleman recalled.

His gun barked even as he was being taken to hospital.

“On the way to the Spanish Town Hospital with the heavy traffic, I had to use my firearm to fire a couple shots to get through the traffic. When I reached the Spanish Town Hospital and sat in a wheelchair, I blacked out. The next thing I remembered was the doctor saying, ‘We a lose yu, Cliff, we a lose yu, wake up!’ I woke up and saw them cutting my throat, then they put a tube in it and took me to KPH in an ambulance,” Coleman said.

He spent two-and-a-half weeks in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital battling the wounds and a bout of pneumonia that he had contracted. Medical personnel called his wife and told her that they could do nothing more for him, and it was up to his own will to live and God’s mercy, stated the man who today insists that one survives if God believes in him and he, in turn, believes in God.

Even today, Coleman still feels the effects of his injuries. He has given up frontline duties and currently works at police traffic headquarters. However, he says he will not forget being in the trenches when the going got tough.

“I got training in the Flying Squad on how to protect myself. People like the late Tony Hewitt, DSP Donald Fogarty, Donovan ‘Hucks’ O’Connor, Derrick ‘Clappy/Cowboy’ Knight, and (Cornwall) ‘Bigga’ Ford — they taught me how to survive; be brave against gunmen and how to manoeuvre myself. I will never forget those persons, especially O’Connor,” Coleman explained.

“Gun battles were something I enjoyed because they allowed you to use up all your training gained from training school from an officer like DSP Christie, who trained me how to shoot. When I got shot, I smiled to myself. Right through the time I felt no pain, because if I wasn’t relaxed, I would go into shock. It was after the shooting that I started feeling pain.

“I have been in several gun battles with gunmen but I have always said that one day if I am attacked alone by gunmen I want to prove to myself who I am and I did that, and I laughed,” said the cop.

He admitted that he faced his greatest fear — that of being killed by gunmen — head on.

“I have never ran away from my fear. You can’t run away from your fear. When reality hits me I know I won’t go down without a fight. I don’t believe in that,” Coleman remarked.

Doctors had told him that the injuries were so bad that he would never speak again. However, his strong willpower and belief in God proved them wrong. The facial injuries in particular have affected his ability to shave, something which he can hardly do because it causes a “numbing sensation” and causes his face to hurt.

Coleman also gets severe headaches at times and gets dizzy if he spends too much time in the sun. He has to maintain a normal blood pressure, because any upward fluctuation could lead to a stroke and possible death. A special diet, too, is of paramount importance to his survival.

“It’s rough. It has taken a toll on my life,” Coleman admitted.

Still, he is grateful to head of the traffic department, Senior Superintendent Radcliffe Lewis, and Assistant Superintendent Thompson who have assisted him greatly with his duties. Apart from his superiors, Coleman singled out former Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas, who, he said, encouraged him throughout his ordeal and visited him while he was hospitalised.

“Mr Thomas is a real human being. You will never find another man like him; he listens to every man and you can tell him your problems; because police have lots of problems — work-wise and otherwise.

“I am not here just to serve the Force, I am here to serve the country and no matter what it takes, I will defend anybody in the country, no matter who. Even if a man was charged with a gun offence one day and he comes to me for assistance the next day I would assist him. No matter what it takes, I will be there for everybody.

“A lot of people join the Force just to get a salary, but that’s not me,” he added.

Insisting that the incident had made him a stronger person, Coleman said that he does not get to enjoy himself as he used to, but challenges himself physically sometimes to see if his body can still handle certain things.

Family support throughout the period has been great, he said, choosing to single out his spouse, Marvalyn Mendez, who was there for him 24 hours a day while he recovered.

“If anybody should have anyone in this world who supports them as a wife, she would get the prize for it. Every time I looked up I saw her, and it was rough for her but she fought it,” he said.

Vigilance is a thing that remains firmly etched in his head. “People attack you because you have something that they want. Have you ever seen anyone attack a mad man? No! The mad man has nothing. Anytime they realise that you have a gun, no matter if you are a policeman — they are coming after you,” he said, adding that he remains a proud policeman.

“This incident can’t stop me. I will continue to do police work,” said Coleman, who prides himself on being highly confidential with his sources, which has resulted in the recovery of guns and the arrest of law-breakers.

Big business, he said, was fuelling certain criminal activities which was impacting the Force negatively, and gunmen are controlled by certain people.

“Certain businessmen control gunmen. You would be surprised about the men who are behind them, and they do it because they want to believe that they have power. When they control the gunmen they feel they have power and the gunmen feel good that they have a ‘big man’ friend,” Coleman added.