Coram homeowner Warren Whyte, family sue Suffolk Police, saying they were wrongly detained, mistreated, humiliated
CORAM, N.Y. - Calling it a case of mistaken identity, a Long Island family claims they were terrorized by Suffolk Police pursuing a cop shooter in the neighborhood.
The Coram family, who says they were innocent and mistreated, plans to sue the department.
Coram homeowner Warren Whyte was doing yard work, he said, when a Suffolk Police SWAT team converged out of nowhere.
"They said to me 'You are a prime suspect in shooting a cop,'" Whyte said.
Whyte, a nurse practitioner and former cop from the island of Jamaica, was taken down and handcuffed, he said.
"They kicked me in the neck while I was still on the ground," Whyte said.
It was an intense time for police. An hour earlier, on May 11, one of their own was shot in the leg several blocks away.
But how was the Whyte family - dad, mom, son and visiting 83-year-old grandmother from Jamaica - linked to the attempted murder?
"High velocity weapons being pointed directly at all my clients. And they were asked, 'Where's the gun?' We have a photograph of the SWAT unit storming the house with dogs, with guns, and they ripped the house apart," attorney Kenneth Mollins said.
"Initially, when they put me in the back of the police car, they kept asking me, 'Who are these people you hang around with?'" Warren Whyte Jr. said.
Whyte Jr., 22, a private bond trader, was asked if he was in the gang with the suspected shooter. No, he said, you've got the wrong guy. Meanwhile, his mother and grandmother were frantic.
"In the back of the police car, and they locked us in there and they left, and I was using my phone to hit," Sherene Whyte said.
Sherene Whyte was pounding on the window because the grandmother needed a bathroom.
"They would not even let me out of the car to go and urinate. I feel so bad," Iceline Nelson said.
She wet herself in the cruiser.
Within three hours, it was over. It had been a mistake, said the family, who say they were, however, humiliated.
"I want to address the commissioner with this question. What could we have done differently?" Sherene Whyte said.
They said one sergeant apologized.
"He said 'Mr. Whyte, we shouldn't have been at your house in the first place, much more you getting kicked. We are sorry,'" Warren Whyte said.
The notice of claim alleges reckless, negligent police conduct, assault, improper detention and civil rights violation.
The Suffolk County Police Department said it cannot comment on pending litigation.
