Mentally ill Westchester man killed by cops may not have been wielding knife, new evidence suggests (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT)
Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. was gunned down by officers at his White Plains home in 2011 — and new evidence, his family says, contradicts police accounts of the incident.
(Enid Alvarez/New York Daily News)Newly discovered DNA results suggest a 68-year-old mentally-ill White Plains man shot to death by cops in 2011 probably wasn’t holding a knife when police opened fire, lawyers for his family said.
Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. was killed during a 90-minute confrontation with White Plains cops in his apartment on Nov. 19, 2011. Officer Anthony Carelli fired the fatal shot.
The case bears striking parallels to the death of 66-year-old Deborah Danner, a diagnosed schizophrenic shot by police in her Bronx apartment on Oct. 18.
The cops claim Chamberlain was having a psychotic episode when he lunged at them with a knife after they shot him with beanbag rounds to subdue him. But Kenneth Chamberlain Jr.’s lawyers says they believe he was terrified of the police and was lying on the floor when he was shot.
Chamberlain’s family has filed a $21 million wrongful death suit against the city of White Plains in federal court. The trial begins next month.
Tests on the knife show that Chamberlain Sr.’s blood was on the blade. But it’s extremely unlikely the DNA found on the handle belonged to him, the lawyers said. The lawyers said they didn’t learn the tests existed until they were revealed in a meeting about 10 days ago with the county medical examiner.
“We learned of it almost literally on the eve of trial,” said Chamberlain Jr.’s attorney Debra Cohen of the law firm Newman Ferrara.
White Plains officials and their lawyers did not return calls for comment. Carelli’s lawyer Andrew Quinn declined comment.
Chamberlain niece details night that led to deadly cop shooting
A source familiar with their case said the defense was also not aware of the DNA tests, and did not intentionally withhold them. The source disputed that the test shows the DNA on the handle was not Chamberlain’s.
Meanwhile, autopsy photos show Chamberlain was shot in the back with a beanbag round, designed to stun people and knock them down without killing them. Cops fired four beanbags at him. The first hit him in the left thigh, Cohen said. The second and third hit him in the chest. The fourth hit him in the back.
Police fired four beanbag rounds at Chamberlain — and the final shot hit him in the back, indicating he was not facing his shooter.
(Handout)The two gunshots fired by Carelli also raise questions. The fatal shot entered the rear of his upper right arm and traveled across his chest.
“That shows he was certainly not facing an officer when they shot him with a gun,” said Cohen’s co-counsel Randolph McLaughlin.
The second shot slammed into a wall about 16 inches off the floor and stopped about 6 inches lower — suggesting the shot was fired at someone on the floor.
Chamberlain's son, Kenneth Jr., and other family members have filed a $21 million federal wrongful death suit against the city.
(Howard Simmons/New York Daily News)On Monday, Seibel will hear arguments on a motion by the defendants to keep the jury from seeing a wide range of evidence in the case.
Chaos swirled around the case Friday after Chamberlain Jr., 50, posted the autopsy photos on his Facebook page.
“I have decided to show the world just what these officers did to my father, a 68-year-old man with a heart condition,” he wrote.
Chamberlain Jr. and attorney Randolph M. Mclaughlin spoke Wednesday at Pace University.
(Howard Simmons/New York Daily News)The trial starts on Nov. 7.
In a case that hinges on the whether Carelli thought he was in imminent danger, another key piece of evidence will be a racial epithet uttered by at least one officer during the confrontation.
“I'm telling you I'm OK, I'm telling you I'm OK," Chamberlain yells to the officers banging on his door, according to a recording of the encounter.
"I don't give a f---, n-----," an unidentified officer then shouts.
In 2013, an officer who used a racial epithet during the confrontation was fired. No officers were charged with a crime.
Emergency workers were sent to Chamberlain’s home after his LifeAid system inadvertently went off. The medical alert device recorded the confrontation.
A judge on Monday will hear motions by the city seeking to keep a broad range of evidence from the jury, including autopsy photos and the audio recordings of the confrontation.
“The defendants are trying to sanitize what happened to Mr. Chamberlain Sr.,” Cohen said. “They want the jury to see him as a crazy black man.”
Like Chamberlain, Danner was having a mental break when NYPD Sgt. Hugh Barry shot her after she allegedly swung a bat at him. Even though Barry was equipped with a Taser, he chose not to use it. Bronx prosecutors are investigating.
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