Officer Anthony Carelli has been identified as the policeman who allegedly shot and killed black, former marine Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. five months ago. Carelli is already scheduled to appear in court later this month-- not for the killing of Chamberlain however, but for a federal police brutality case stemming from a separate 2008 incident.
According to The New York Daily News, Carelli is one of six cops accused in a $10 million lawsuit brought by twin brothers, Jereis (Jerry) Hatter and Salameh (Sal) Hatter. The twins, of Jordanian descent, claim Carelli and crew beat them with police batons while they were handcuffed to a pole in the booking area of the White Plains police station.
Carelli, allegedly the most brutal of the officers, is also accused of calling the twins "rag heads."
"[Carelli] hit me in my eye with a nightstick and then he kicked me in my nuts,” Jereis Hatter told The News on Wednesday. “He shouldn’t be a cop."
Carelli claims Jereis, while being walked into the police station after a disorderly-conduct arrest, “became belligerent . . . twisting his body in an attempt to move, to get away from me.” Cirelli then said he had to pin Jereis to the ground until other officers could help.
Over the past five months, White Plains Public Safety Commissioner David Chong had repeatedly denied the Chamberlain family's requests to identify Carelli. On Wednesday--perhaps because of growing media attention--he acquiesced and released the name.
In November, Chamberlain inadvertently triggered his medical alert pendant. Cops arrived and allegedly called Chamberlain a racial epithet before forcing down his door, Tasering him, shooting him with a beanbag gun and then shooting him twice. He died two hours later.
Police said Chamberlain--who told the cops he was fine and they could go away-- attacked them with a hatchet and a knife, but new evidence suggests the 68-year-old may have been unarmed.
The Westchester District Attorney confirmed earlier this week that the shooting will be presented to a grand jury.