CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A personal trainer beaten unconscious in a 2017 confrontation with a group that included Corey Coleman testified Tuesday that he now remembers the Cleveland Browns wide receiver led the group that ambushed him in an apartment stairwell.
Adam Sapp testified at the trial of Corey Coleman's brother, Jonathan Coleman, that he didn't remember whether the Browns standout hit him.
But Sapp, who previously said he didn't remember anything about the seconds before he was attacked, told a jury Tuesday that he remembers Corey Coleman was at the front of the group as they followed him into the stairwell connecting a parking garage to the Pinnacle apartments building and ambushed him.
"I was able to remember being attacked," he said.
Sapp's friend later found him lying unconscious on a speed bump inside the garage.
Corey Coleman was never charged in the beating, nor has he been called to testify as a witness. His roommate, Jared Floyd, pleaded guilty to an attempted felonious assault charge and his brother, Jonathan Coleman, is charged with one count of felonious assault.
The case went to trial in November and ended when jurors could not reach a verdict. The second trial began with jury selection Monday.
Corey Coleman's attorney, Kevin Spellacy, said in a phone interview Tuesday that Corey Coleman never denied that he was in the stairwell, but maintains that he never touched Sapp and did not leave the stairwell.
Sapp filed a civil lawsuit against the Coleman brothers, Corey Coleman's then-roommate Jared Floyd and the company that runs the downtown apartment building.
Jonathan Coleman's attorney, Fernando Mack, repeatedly prodded Sapp with questions about how reliable his memory was, and whether Sapp would get more money from his lawsuit if he placed the Coleman brothers at the scene of the beating.
Sapp, who grew defensive and at times combative with Mack, denied making up the claims. He said he has been working with a psychologist jog his memory and pieces of the night have started coming back to him "in flashes."
He also said seeing surveillance video during his testimony in the November trial, video that showed Corey Coleman walking at the front of the group toward the garage.
The circumstances around the New Year's Eve attack remained murky even after the last trial.
Surveillance video from the apartment shows that Sapp ran into Floyd, Jonathan Coleman and the others in the elevator and exchanged words with them.
Floyd and Jonathan Coleman then confronted Sapp in the lobby outside the elevators. Floyd punched Sapp as he stood in the elevator trying to go back upstairs, and then Sapp fought back. Jonathan Coleman got involved and threw two punches.
The fight escalated and eventually ended, and Sapp walked toward the parking garage and tried to leave.
Corey Coleman emerged from the stairwell and is seen on video pointing in the direction where Sapp was headed.
The group followed Corey Coleman out of the view of the security camera where Sapp says he was beaten.
Jonathan Coleman and Floyd then picked up Sapp's body and carried him to the garage and laid him down on a speed bump. A bystander eventually yelled and got them to stop.
Sapp was taken to St. Vincent Charity Medical Center for treatment.
Jonathan Coleman maintained at his first trial that he was trying to break up the fight between Floyd and Sapp, and that he only swung to protect himself.
Corey Coleman has denied involvement. He hired Spellacy within days of the fight. Spellacy hired a private investigator to conduct a separate investigation as Cleveland police detectives carried out their probe.
Corey Coleman was initially identified in court records as taking part in the beating, but Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley's office ruled out charging him after DNA samples taken from Sapp's clothing matched only Floyd's DNA, and Sapp said he did not see who hit him.
Spellacy told cleveland.com that he was not surprised that Sapp's memory changed.
"The young man filed a lawsuit looking for damages, and now he changes his story about where Corey was," Spellacy said.
Craig Weintraub, the lawyer who filed Sapp's lawsuit and also a friend of Sapp's family, emailed cleveland.com Wednesday morning to defend Sapp's right to file the lawsuit, which he did in late December, after the first trial.
"It is highly likely that if any of the attorneys who commented [on Sapp's lawsuit] were severely beaten, they too, just like Mr Sapp, would want the persons held criminally responsible while also seeking monetary compensation for their injuries," Weintraub said. "That is why we have a civil and criminal judicial system."
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Update: This story was updated with quotes from attorneys Kevin Spellacy and Craig Weintraub.