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COLDWATER — In a terse announcement issued at 5:59 p.m. Friday, Coldwater City Manager Keith Baker said, “Officer Lewis Eastmead is no longer employed with the city of Coldwater effective Jan. 12, 2018. As a result of ongoing litigation, no further comment will be made at this time.” The announcement came less than a week after concerns from the public were brought to the council at a recent meeting. Two unsuccessful candidates who ran for seats on the city councill in November, Dan Corwin and Alexia Rish, stood up to question council members last Monday on the civil rights lawsuit by Tiffany McNeil against the city of Coldwater, the Coldwater Police Department and CPD Officer Lewis Eastmead that stemmed from a July 24, 2017, arrest. […]

Coldwater police officer Lewis Eastmead, who is at the center of a federal lawsuit claiming excessive force, is no longer with the department. Eastmead is accused of grabbing a woman and slamming her to the floor during an arrest. Video of the incident was captured by Branch County Jail surveillance cameras. Several other officers are present in the video, and some also are named in the lawsuit filed Dec. 11 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. In the suit, which seeks at least $75,000 in damages, McNeil said she was grabbed by the hair and slammed to the floor while hand-cuffed. The officer then proceeded to deliver knee-strikes to her unconscious body. Read the rest of the story here.

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