Councilman Coleman Arrested

Anthony Coleman has been charged with assault and battery against fellow council member Annette Lewis.

Coleman surrendered to authorities at the at 1 p.m. Friday and was free on a $2,000 property bond by 4:45, according to jail records.

The charges against the Ward 5 councilman stem from a confrontation he reportedly had with Lewis after a meeting of the council’s three-member Redistricting Committee on Sept. 22.

The city turned the case over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to avoid any conflict of interest. The GBI finished the investigation Nov. 10, the day before Coleman’s 54th birthday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Under warrants issued Thursday, Coleman is charged with simple assault and simple battery causing physical harm, both misdemeanors, according to jail records.

Mayor Steve Tumlin told the Marietta Daily Journal it’s too soon for the City Council to consider action against Coleman; instead, he said, it should let the legal system do its job.

The incident between Lewis and Coleman reportedly started after Lewis proposed creating the city's federally required majority-black ward on the south side of the city, away from Coleman’s home, the MDJ said, and the Redistricting Committee has been stalled since.