CBS2 Exclusive: Civil Jury Visits Scene Where Police Shot, Killed Former Marine In White Plains
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A federal jury was deliberating a case Wednesday to determine whether a White Plains police officer is liable in a man's death.
The city could also be held responsible.
CBS2's Lou Young was there exclusively as the jurors were shuttled to the scene of the 2011 police shooting in two U.S. Marshals' vans. They visited a now-vacant public housing high-rise on South Lexington Avenue in White Plains, where Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. was killed by police five years ago.
His family is now suing for damages, and the jury is deliberating in the civil trial in the case.
Neighbors remember Chamberlain well.
"He would sit out here with the other elders. He was a very kind man," said neighbor Cheryl Williams. "He was killed in his own home. It's brutal, because if you can't be safe here, where can you be safe?"
Chamberlain suffered from emphysema, osteoarthritis, and had a history of mental health issues. On Nov. 19, 2011, he wound up dead after a 90-minute altercation with White Plains police when his medical aid device was accidentally triggered.
A court exhibit showed how Chamberlain's apartment looked the night of the killing, after police took his door off its hinges and forced their way in because the former Marine's medic alert system had been activated by mistake.
Part of the chaos was caught on police video. Police are heard pounding on the door over the life alert system.
Chamberlain grabbed a kitchen knife and remained in his apartment as police tried to force the door, and he demanded they leave him alone. He promised to kill anyone coming in.
Chamberlain: "I'm telling you I'm OK, I'm telling you I'm OK."
Officer: (inaudible)
Chamberlain:: "I'm telling you I'm OK."
In closing arguments, an attorney for White Plains police Officer Anthony Carelli said simply that his client had to shoot.
"All of the evidence points to the fact that the moment Anthony Carelli fired his weapon, Kenneth Chamberlain posed a threat," Carelli's attorney said.
But attorney Randolph McLaughlin said photos of Chamberlain's body bearing the marks of four shotgun blasts with beanbag loads means Chamberlain was down and powerless where he was killed.
"We believe the picture of the beanbag shot to his back kills their case, because there's no way a man shot in the back with a beanbag at the velocity greater than a Mike Tyson punch could be a threat to anyone," McLaughlin said.
The photograph of Chamberlain's back wound may cast a lot of the police testimony in doubt, but experts believe it is a heavy lift for the Chamberlain family in the civil trial.
The jury began deliberating late Wednesday afternoon and wrapped for the day in the early evening. The Chamberlain family is asking for compensatory and punitive damages from Officer Carelli and the City of White Plains.
Carelli and three other officers were cleared of criminal misconduct by a Westchester County grand jury, but one officer was fired for using a racial slur during the confrontation.
