Wikipedia Summation
"Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. was fatally shot on November 19, 2011, in White Plains, New York.[1][2] After his LifeAid medical alert necklace was inadvertently triggered,[3][4][5][6] police came to his home and demanded that he open his front door. Despite his objections and statements that he did not need help, the police broke down Chamberlain's door, tasered him, and then shot him dead. Chamberlain was a 68-year-old, African-American, retired Marine, and a 20-year veteran of the Westchester County Department of Corrections. He wore the medical alert bracelet due to a chronic heart problem.[7]Contents [hide]
1 The incident
1.1 Autopsy
2 Consequences
2.1 Grand jury
2.2 Police department review
2.3 Federal investigation
2.4 Petition
2.5 Civil suit
3 Accusations of racism
3.1 White Plains Police Department
4 References
5 External links
The incident[edit]
At approximately 5:00 a.m., on November 19, 2011, Chamberlain was at home in the Winbrook Public Housing[8][9] at 135 S. Lexington Avenue[10] in White Plains, New York. His LifeAid medical alert necklace was triggered, sending an alert to a LifeAid customer service operator, who in turn called the City of White Plains Department of Public Safety.In response, police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians were dispatched. At Chamberlain's home, police knocked on his door. Chamberlain told them through the door, he did not call them, did not require assistance, was not having a medical emergency, and asked them to leave.[4] Police refused to leave his home, and insisted that Chamberlain open the door. Throughout the entire incident, an audio recording was made by a LifeAid device in the home. The police became more insistent, and began banging on the door. Chamberlain then contacted the LifeAid operator asking them for help. He stated that the White Plains Police employees were going to enter his home and kill him. The police continued to bang on the door, and then attempted to force it open for approximately one hour. During that time, officer Steven Hart swore at him and called him a "nigger".[11][12]
Upon breaking down his door, they entered Chamberlain's apartment. Police alleged Chamberlain came at them with a butcher knife when they broke down the door.[13] Chamberlain's family claims the elderly Chamberlain was unarmed (which has been confirmed by DNA evidence[14]), and did not resist. Police tased him, and then shot him with a bean bag round fired from a shotgun.[15] Chamberlain allegedly continued to charge at officers with the knife when Officer Anthony Carelli (whose name was withheld for over four months after the incident)[16] shot him twice[17][18] in the chest with live ammunition.[19][20] A camera mounted on the taser captured the tasing, but was not functioning during the shooting.[11] Chamberlain later died in surgery at White Plains Hospital.[9]
Autopsy[edit]
An autopsy conducted on November 21, 2012, revealed that one bullet hit Chamberlain sideways, passing through his right arm and then both lungs. The other bullet seems to have missed. The autopsy, performed by Westchester County Chief Medical Examiner Kunjlata Ashar, also revealed taser burns on Chamberlain's neck and abdomen.[21] Chamberlain's blood contained alcohol content of 0.11, and the muscle-relaxant cyclobenzaprine. The autopsy found "no drugs of abuse" in Chamberlain's system.[10]Kenneth Chamberlain Jr. responded, "I'm glad the autopsy is out and shows that my father's hands were at his sides. It absolutely shows that my father wasn't the aggressor and that deadly force was not necessary."[10]
Consequences[edit]
Grand jury[edit]
In 2012, a grand jury reviewed the case and decided that no criminal charge would be made against police officers involved in the killing.[22][23] Because grand jury proceedings are secret in New York, the details of the case presented to this body are not known. Lawyers for the family suggest that the case may have been presented in a misleading or ineffective way and are therefore seeking other legal recourses, such as requesting a federal investigation.Police department review[edit]
In May 2012, White Plains mayor Thomas Roach announced that he will bring in "outside experts to do a broad review of" policy for the city's police department.[24] The commission's chair will be Dr. Maria Haberfeld, a political science professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the academic coordinator for New York's Executive Police Institute.[25][26]Federal investigation[edit]
US Attorney Preet Bharara has announced that his office will investigate whether federal civil rights law was violated.[20][27]Petition[edit]
An online petition was created by the son of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. By April 6, 2012, it had received nearly 199,900 signatures. It asks for an end to police misconduct and brutality, and for the officers involved to be indicted and charged with murder and civil rights violations. The petition will be delivered to the County District Attorney for Westchester, Janet DiFiore.[28]Chamberlain Jr. said he was inspired by the petition circulated online by the parents of shooting victim Trayvon Martin, saying, "I signed Trayvon's petition, sat back and thought, 'Well, maybe I should do a petition.'" As of May 3, 2012, the petition has received at least 208,000 signatures.[29]
Civil suit[edit]
On July 2, 2012, a civil suit for $21 million was filed by the victim's son, Kenneth Chamberlain Jr., against the City of White Plains and the White Plains Police Department.[30] In November 2012, the Chamberlain family amended their lawsuit to require the city to modify police procedures with the mentally ill.The lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial Nov. 7, 2016. [31]
Accusations of racism[edit]
Accusations of racism have been leveled at both the police officers involved, and at law enforcement and justice systems that were reluctant to react. Chamberlain's son, Kenneth Chamberlain Jr., discussed both issues with lawyer Mayo Bartlett on Democracy Now, highlighting the absurdity of police shooting a person they were summoned to help, as well as the unusual delay in the grand jury investigation.[32] Chamberlain Jr. said "I wasn't trying to turn this into any type of racially motivated killing, until we heard the audio"—in particular, Hart's use of the word "nigger."[11] On February 15, 2012, Kenneth Chamberlain Jr. said his lawyers had filed a notice of claim informing the city, White Plains Public Safety Department, and White Plains Housing Authority to expect the wrongful death lawsuit.[33]Chamberlain's death is one of many police killings of unarmed African Americans protested by the Black Lives Matter movement.[34]
White Plains Police Department[edit]
Lawyer Mayo Bartlett points out that the White Plains police system wrote their reports to cover up racism and wrongdoing by the officers. Their transcript of the incident omitted Hart's use of the word "nigger," as well as the information that the original call had been for a medical emergency.[11] Public Safety Commissioner David Chong said in a May 3, 2012 statement that the Police Department would conduct an internal review of the incident and fully cooperate with an independent study to be done by a panel of experts to review the department's policies and procedures and recommend any improvements.[35]"
Kenneth Chamberlain Jr discussing his father's execution
Kenneth Chamberlain Jr's testimony on Democracy Now April 5, 2012:
at 3m45sec
My father accidentally triggered his life alert pendant one morning. White Plains police responded to the home supposedly to do a medical check to see if he was okay told them he was fine yet they insisted that he open the door. When my father said that he knows his rights and he doesn't have to open the door they began to bang on the door for over an hour. Ultimately breaking the door down and shooting him and killing him....
at 11m52s:
My name is Kenneth Chanberlain and this is my sworn testimony. White Plains police officers are going to come in here and kill me. Now of course we discussed as well that the use of racial epithet at the time also is caught on tape. Yes, tes when he asked them "why they doing this? Please, dont do this to me. Why are you doing this." When the officers say "I don't give a F" and [the officer] use the n-word.
Officer Carelli previous accusations of racially charged battery while acting under color of law
Transcript for the April 5, 2012 episode of Democracy Now at:
https://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/5/exclusive_cop_in_fatal_shooting_of
at 0m46s
" JUAN GONZALEZ: And we started hearing the name of a particular officer, but it took until late yesterday, almost until the evening, 'til we were actually able to get confirmation that the officer who was directly involved in the shooting was an officer by the name of Anthony Carelli, who joined the White Plains police force in 2004 at the age of 21, and who, amazingly, is about to go into a trial, a federal civil rights trial, by two brothers who were arrested by Carelli and a group of officers back in 2008 on Memorial Day weekend in downtown White Plains in a strip where there's a lot of bars and restaurants and large crowds tend to gather on weekends, and the two brothers were arrested for disorderly conduct, a charge that was later dropped.But it turns out that they are alleging in their lawsuit, a $10 million lawsuit against the police department of White Plains, that Carelli was the lead officer who brought them into the precinct and cuffed them to a long bar in the booking room and then beat one of the brothers, Jereis Hatter, and repeatedly beat him. And interestingly, in a deposition that we got a hold of in the case, Carelli claimed that—because he had to explain some of the injuries that Hatter clearly had—that on the way to the precinct, in the police car, Hatter repeatedly was banging his head, from the back seat of the patrol car, was banging his head against the plastic partition in the police vehicle. And so, when questioned, “Well, what did you do?” Carelli said, “Well, I told him to stop. But he wouldn’t listen, and he kept banging his head over and over again against the plastic shield in the police car.” And because, obviously, the young man went into the precinct with no injuries and came out—and we have a picture of him in the newspaper with a battered face. And so, they are now suing, claiming civil rights violations and excessive force by the police department.
AMY GOODMAN: And then, the yelling of the racial epithet.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Yes, and that he—and that while they were being beaten, Carelli was calling them “rag heads” inside the precinct. And one brother says that—we were able to reach him late at night. He said that Carelli should not be on the force, that he beat him in the head, he kicked him in the groin. And he just wants justice.
AMY GOODMAN: And this is while he was handcuffed to a pole in the police station.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Yes, yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Wouldn’t they have video of what happened inside a police station?
JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, interestingly, the police department says they have no surveillance—they had no video inside. This is the police headquarters; we’re not talking about a small precinct. This is the police headquarters. They have—there is no video of anything that happened, according to the police department."
Update May 2017 Plaintiffs file Appeal for Justice
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/appeal-filed-68-year-old-fatal-westchester-police-shooting-article-1.3150581
"Lawyers for a White Plains man who cops fatally shot have filed a new appeal after a jury rejected their lawsuit....Randolph McLaughlin and Debra Cohen claim U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel improperly blocked evidence from the jury that would have resulted in a different outcome in the case of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr.
Chamberlain, a 68-year-old former Marine, was killed in his apartment on Nov. 19, 2011, by White Plains police who were responding to reports of a disturbance.
In November, a federal court jury court cleared Officer Anthony Carelli and the city of White Plains of any responsibility for Chamberlain’s death."
"Siebel did let not the jury hear a claim of illegal entry against the cops, even though a recording shows he opened the door for police and told them he was fine and didn’t need help, the lawyers argue.The appeal claims the cops ignored him and riled him up, which they then used as justification to force their way in — guns drawn.
“We believe a jury should decide whether the police forced entry into Mr. Chamberlain’s apartment was reasonable,” McLaughlin said.
White Plains Police Officer Anthony Carelli was cleared of wrongdoing in the deadly shooting.
White Plains Police Officer Anthony Carelli was cleared of wrongdoing in the deadly shooting. (ANTHONY DELMUNDO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
The lawyers also object to Siebel’s decision to dismiss an excessive force claim against Sgt. Keith Martin, a patrol supervisor who shot Chamberlain four times with beanbag rounds from a shotgun before Carelli fired the fatal bullet.“During discovery, we learned that each projectile struck Mr. Chamberlain with a force greater than a Mike Tyson punch and that he, not surprisingly, was brought to the ground from the impact,” Cohen said.
“We believe that if a jury hears all the evidence about the use of the beanbag shotgun, and Mr. Chamberlain's poor physical condition, they will find the use of force to have been excessive and unjustified.”"
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