Mississippi corrections officer Latasha Crump Coleman has been missing for months, and some of her relatives think that her estranged and allegedly abusive husband may know why.
Tensions over the issue exploded in a Jackson courthouse this week, in a brawl involving her family as well as that of her husband, Derrick Coleman.
Local news cameras preparing to shoot a news briefing swung around and picked up the melee, which included kicks, slaps and body slams. Video shows a woman jumping over a railing to strike a man – and him smacking her in the face before police dive in and break up the mayhem.
Coleman’s family allegedly instigated the attack from behind, according to the missing officer’s brother, Cedric Crump.
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The fight began in the courthouse lobby before spilling outside. (WLBT/WDBD)
Due to “obvious turmoil” between the sides, bailiffs at prior hearings escorted them out separate doors, he said. For some reason Thursday, however, they let the Colemans out right behind the Crumps.
“They began to say things towards us and attempted to hit – they hit – one of my family members,” Crump told Fox News Digital.
The two sides exchanged heated words in the courthouse lobby. Shouting soon escalated to shoving – then an all-out brawl, video from the Jackson-based FOX 40 shows. The melee left a juvenile with a bloody nose, according to the station.
WATCH: Courthouse chaos caught on video after confrontation involving missing woman’s family
The 46-year-old Crump Coleman, who goes by Tasha, has been unaccounted for since July 19. According to her family, they reported her missing after she failed to show up for work without calling ahead.
She left behind her Apple Watch, something she normally wouldn’t leave home without, her brother said. Her three dogs were all locked in a cage and unfed.
Another alarming sign, according to her brother, the last person who spoke with her over the phone, believes she heard someone making noise in the background.
No one has been arrested, but Jackson Police Chief Joe Wade told WAPT-TV that her husband, Derrick Coleman, is “high on the radar.” The judge, in court filings, referred to him as a “present, extreme danger” to his wife, who obtained an order of protection after alleged domestic abuse.
Latasha Crump Coleman has been missing since July 19. She was in the process of divorcing her husband, Derrick Coleman, who is currently being held in jail for allegedly violating a no-contact order she had against him before she vanished. (WLBT/WDBD)
“She was very fearful of her estranged husband, even had some domestic violence cases against him,” her brother said. “And she was very fearful that something might happen to her if he was allowed to be in contact with her.”
Coleman appeared in the Hinds County Courthouse in Jackson Thursday to try and appeal a 2022 conviction for violating that no-contact order. The judge ruled against him. But the crackdown came too late, according to Crump.
A prior case saw Coleman freed on bail. But while out, he was supposed to wear a GPS ankle monitor, according to court documents. He didn’t – prompting a judge to revoke his bail. But by then, Crump Coleman was already missing, her brother said.
According to a GoFundMe campaign set up by her son, the Crump side of the family suspects foul play. His mother was in the process of divorcing Coleman at the time she vanished and wanted to get away from him.
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Derrick Coleman sighs on his way out of court, just moments before his family and the family of his estranged and missing wife began brawling in the courthouse lobby. Five people were arrested after the fight spilled outside, according to the local sheriff. (WLBT/WDBD)
Sheriff Tyree Jones said five adults were arrested on disorderly conduct charges in connection with the courthouse chaos. Jail records show at least two of them on the Crump side, including the missing officer’s 22-year-old son and her sister, who is also a prison guard, and at least one Coleman.
Crump Coleman is described as a Black woman standing 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighing around 180 pounds with shoulder-length braided hair. Her car is also missing – a gray 2002 Acura MDX with Mississippi plate HPA8639.
Her friend Candice Bryant told Dateline in September that she believed the case missed out on critical early attention because Crump Coleman vanished just days after the Carlee Russell hoax in Alabama.
Russell, 25, faked her own abduction in July, according to prosecutors. The case garnered national attention by the time she showed up fine at her house two days later.
“We’re in December, still looking,” Crump said of his sister’s case. “We have not found any new leads as far as where she is, where her vehicle may be. It’s as if she disappeared from the face of the Earth.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Jackson police at 601-960-1234.
If you or someone you know is suffering from domestic violence, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233 (SAFE).
