JUDGE ORDERS WHITE PLAINS POLICE TO RELEASE REPORT ON SHOOTING OF RETIRED MARINE
Randolph M. McLaughlin & Debra S. Cohen
On Tuesday, United States District Judge Cathy Seibel ordered the release of an "After Action Report" -- an internal investigation by White Plains Police Department of the events surrounding the fatal shooting of Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr. on November 19, 2011 -- after police responded to Chamberlain's apartment following the accidental triggering of his medical alert device. The Report was submitted by Assistant Chief Anne Fitzsimmons to Chief Joseph Bradley on October 12, 2012, but was never produced, nor its existence disclosed, despite repeated requests by the Chamberlain family in a pending civil lawsuit. When the Report's existence was finally confirmed during the deposition of Chief Bradley, the Defendants fought its disclosure by asserting that it was confidential because of a "self-critical analysis privilege." The Judge concluded that "the privilege does not shield any portion of the Report from disclosure and Defendants are ordered to produce a full, unredacted copy of the Report to Plaintiff in a timely fashion".In response to the Court's order to release the full report, Debra S. Cohen, one of the Newman Ferrara attorneys representing the Chamberlain family, said, "We won't conjecture why the White Plains police failed to share the existence of a Report which included the results of their own internal investigation into Mr. Chamberlain's death. But we are gratified we will now be able to review it, and question police officials about its conclusions, as part our search for the truth." Kenneth Chamberlain, Jr., responded to news of the Report's imminent release by noting, "Nothing can bring my father back, or erase the ninety-minutes he endured alone in his apartment, but hopefully this Report will help answer the question of why this happened and help avoid such tragedies in the future."