WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. October 4, 2012:
After receiving the Analysis of the White Plains Police Department Wednesday evening from the Mayor’s Office by e-mail, WPCNR found it also contains an analysis of police conduct in handling the Kenneth Chamberlain incident in November of 2011, in which Chamberlain died after being shot by police.
The Chamberlain death prompted the city to commission this report to analyze the police department procedures in their entirety: training, selection, operation, staffing, standard procedure in handling incidents, etc. The Chamberlain family is currently suing the city over the shooting.
On pages 35 and 36 of the Haberfeld report, Professor Michael Walker presents his analysis of “200 pages of documents along with crime scene photos, audio-video clips filed as a result of the situation on November 19, 2011 involving Kenneth Chamberlain and members of the White Plains Police Department.”
The report describes Professor Walker as having “taught police use of force in academies throughout Northern New Jersey and has been accepted as an expert witness in cases where Patterson (N.J.) Police Officers have resorted to the use of deadly force.”
Professor Walker’s analysis of the material notes,
“the officers used a Haligan tool from the fire department to hold the door (to Chamberlain’s apartment) open while using a pair of bolt cutters to cut the snap lock. As this was being attempted, Chamberlain threatened to kill anyone who came into the apartment. Chamberlain then took a meat cleaver and struck at the officers through the door opening and, at an opportune instant, the officer using the bolt cutters to latch onto the cleaver and rip it (the cleaver) from Chamberlain’s hands. Chamberlain then used a butcher knife to cut at the officers through the door opening.”
Walker describes, “At one point an officer was sent to the outside rear of the apartment to bang on the windows and distract Chamberlain so that entry could be made while he was away from the door; this failed to get the desired result.”
“The officers on scene used a novel combination of implements to keep the door wedged open while attempting to stay back from Chamberlain’s knife slases; the axe that originally held the door open was replaced with a Halligan tool connected to the officer controlling it by a length of rope.”
“When the door was finally breached at approximately 6:30 A.M. it fell into the apartment but at a tilt since a chair had been placed behind the door. Initially the officers attempted to deploy a Taser to incapacitate Chamberlain, but only one dart lodged in him and the device was ineffective.”
“The officers then decided to use less-than-lethal bean bag rounds to disable Chamberlain, who was still gripping the butcher knife and threatening to kill the officers; the first round was intentionally aimed at Chamberlain’s upper thigh because officers felt that a shot to the chest might cause a heart attack. The shot hit its mark and Chamberlain was unaffected by it and still held the knife; three more (bean bag) shots followed into Chamberlain’s chest but these too were ineffective — they knocked him back but he still gripped the knife.”
“As Chamberlain advanced on a sergeant in the room, an officer fired two rounds to stop Chamberlain: one hit him in the top of the arm which held the knife but traveled into Chamberlain’s chest and turned out to be the fatal round, the other (shot) missed.”
“Chamberlain fell backward onto the floor and began to use the knife in an attempt to cut his own throat; the knife was knocked free with an ASP baton and Chamberlain was restrained and given medical assistance. He was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7:09 A.M.”
The report prepared by Dr. Maria (Make) Habergeld, Dr. John DeCarlo, Dr. Robert Vodde and Professor Walker concludes this analysis with the following comment:
“Based on Professor Walker’s assessment of the documents presented to us, his law enforcement training and experience it is his belief that the shooting of Mr. Chamberlain was totally justified and took place only after negotiations and all non-lethal means were unsuccessful and Mr. Chamberlain came at a police sergeant with a knife.”
The report has two recommendations for the police department in handling such barricaded situations: “Purchase additional equipment, like cameras that can be slipped under doors, in order to assess the gravity of given situations,” and “ensure that the hydraulic ram (which enables the breach of a door typical of one found in a housing development) be available at all times for members of the White Plains Police and Fire Departments”
