Vol. 76/No. 21      May 28, 2012

Chamberlain was a retired Westchester corrections officer and Marine. When he accidentally triggered his heart pendant Nov. 19, the medical alert company asked the police to respond. When cops arrived at Chamberlain’s apartment he assured them through the door that he was fine and refused to open the door. The New York Daily News reports that the medical alert call also cancelled their request for the police.

“They have shotguns, stun guns, they have their Glocks out … they’re trying to kill me!” the medical alert company tapes record Chamberlain yelling. After more than an hour, the cops took the apartment door off its hinges and shot Chamberlain with a Taser and a beanbag gun before White Plains Officer Anthony Carelli fatally shot him in the chest.

According to the cops, Chamberlain had been shouting incoherently and wielding a knife.

“It’s a real injustice,” Mia Ruff, one of Chamberlain’s neighbors, told the Militant. “There’s no way to even justify the cops going into the apartment.”

Chamberlain’s son, Kenneth Chamberlain Jr., told the Daily News that the grand jury’s decision was “a blatant cover-up of the murderous tactics” of the cops.

Stephen Hart, one of the officers on the scene that night, was caught on tape shouting a racist slur at Chamberlain, who is Black. District Attorney Janet DiFiore claimed the cop’s use of the N-word was an attempt to “distract” him.

Hart, Carelli, and Sgt. Stephen Fottrell, also on the scene that night, each have either recently been through or still face unrelated separate lawsuits for allegations of brutality and racial discrimination.

The U.S. attorney’s office says they will review the Chamberlain case for violations of criminal civil rights laws.
 
 
Related articles:
NY cops’ stop-and-frisk tactics target young Black, Latino men
NJ protest slams cop killing of Malik Williams
 
 
 
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