Why isn't the murder of Kenneth Chamberlain a bigger story?

[SpartanDem]

It was just after 5 a.m. on a cold November morning in 2011 when Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., a 68-year-old former Marine with a severe heart condition, accidentally set off a medical alert pendant.

An ambulance was dispatched to Chamberlain's White Plains, New York, apartment, though police who respond to such calls as a matter of routine arrived ahead of the emergency medical workers.

Within the hour, Chamberlain, who is black, lay dying -- from two rounds fired into his upper body by a white police officer.

The medical alert device recorded much of the conversation between police and Chamberlain, ...Law enforcement sources confirmed to CNN's Soledad O'Brien that racial slurs are clearly heard on the audio tape.


http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/16/justice/new-york-chamberlain-death/?hpt=us_t2

This should be just as big of as of a story as Trayvon. If the media won't do it's job we should be trying to take this story viral

[whathehell]

1. It SHOULD be a bigger story...It's hideous what happened to this man!

A veteran, too. Nothing like "thanks of a grateful nation"

I hope they NAIL those shitbag cops!

[Justice wanted]

2. Simple It is the "Police" who did it. So of course There is no need for any fuss after all they are

doing what they are suppose to be doing. Getting rid of the "RIFT RAFF" to make the world safer for the RICH

[freshwest]

3. I get all my news here and the first thread went off the page b/c Zimmerman.

There may also be a sense of helplessness that the PD will never be brought to trial for this, whereas GZ was going to be arrested.

[Snake Alchemist]

4. Because it's in NY? nt

[Baitball Blogger]

5. I'm guessing it's because these things have been building for sometime.

What happened in the Martin Trayvon case was a lot of Chamberlain type stories. The Zimmerman shooting became the straw that broke the camel's back.

Frankly, I think it's evidence that the right-wing is weakening. Think about how the environment was before Gabrielle Gifford got shot. It was poison.

[MADem]

6. Three strikes--black AND old AND poor.

We don't treat our elderly very well in this country--especially our "not wealthy" elderly. Also, if the individual has mental health issues, that pushes the case further down in priority.

The murdered blonde young female child or teen gets "pride of place" in the Big Story races. All other stories have to line up behind those in this culture.

Also, and this is salient to the way the media prioritizes these kinds of things -- it wasn't the "rogue" jerk with the neighborhood watch who killed this poor man. It was the jerks with the badges.

"I think that what happened that night is that Mr. Chamberlain happened to live in public housing and we had police officers who gave him a command to open the door and when he didn't acknowledge their command, really became very agitated and angry because he was defying what they asked him to do," Chamberlain attorney Randy McLaughlin said on "AC360."
"They forgot that they were there to deal with a medical emergency. You have here a 68-year-old man who has served this country in Vietnam for six years, and a 20-year retired member of the Department of Corrections for Westchester County who died, but didn't have to die."

I hope this case does get the attention it deserves. I hope this man's family gets justice.

[Doctor_J]

22. 4th strike - he was in White Plains

I think that's sort of one big gated community.

[bluedigger]

7. Because we give cops greater latitude in freely shooting civilians than we do vigilantes?

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

9. Sad,but true.

[jtuck004]

8. I think Reverend Al and Jesse need to make time for this.

You do it too much, or without some hook, and people get too thick-skinned about it.

But it does seem like a much bigger notice needs to be taken - on the national stage. And there are certainly enough incidents to make it bigger.

[Meiko]

24. There is no money and photo op's for them

You won't see them.

[Logical]

10. The STUPID public tend to think cops are perfect! That is why....

It is not a story and why cops routinely get away with abuse!

[Suji to Seoul]

14. but the meme is it's only a few bad apples. it isn't the Blue Code of Silence or the "Us v. Them"

idea police have. . .or the militarization of the police. . .or the prison industrial complex that pushes for more restrictive laws, more draconian punishments and more lax oversight on the police.

It's just a few bad apples

(do I need to add the "sarcasm" icon)

[Logical]

16. Every cop has abused there power at some point. Most will admit it!

[CBHagman]

11. If you read the link, there's mention of a grand jury investigation and a lawsuit...

...so it is not identical to the case of Trayvon Martin, where no charges were brought against George Zimmerman until recently.

[mojowork_n]

12. Zip Code / Gated Privilege would be my guess

I think White Plains is a very, very high income residential district, per capita.

Westchester County? It's right there or very close, although the area is something
of a checkerboard/crazy quilt, as far as income diversity goes. A friend from college
lives there and says there are drugstores and auto mechanics and small tradesmen,
but it's the bedroom community for some of the very wealthiest New Yorkers. Those
who don't want to compete for access at Beekman Place, preferring to live on large,
spacious, semi-forested grounds hiding palatial mansions. With heliports and the works.

[pinboy3niner]

13. Grand Jury Hears Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. Case as Autopsy Casts Further Doubt on Police Claims

Thursday, April 12, 2012

A grand jury met Wednesday to consider whether charges should be filed in the police shooting of retired Marine Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., who was killed when police, responding to a false alarm from his LifeAid medical-alert pendant, burst into his White Plains apartment, tasered him and shot him dead on November 19, 2011. Lawyers for Chamberlain’s family say newly revealed documents show the White Plains police violated their own taser policy by using the weapon on an elderly person and failing to give verbal warnings. In addition, the lawyers have raised questions about the police account of Chamberlain’s death based on the findings of his autopsy. On what would have been Chamberlain’s 69th birthday, we’re joined by two attorneys for his family, Mayo Bartlett and Abdulwali Muhammad. (includes rush transcript)

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/12/grand_jury_hears_kenneth_chamberlain_sr

[99th_Monkey]

15. Totally! I'm his exact age, and with a heart condition as well.

but I'm white,

so I don't expect this to happen to me.

which is such a sick twisted disgrace.

I'm so ashamed of my country right now.

[quinnox]

17. because the police get away with shooting and killing people quite often

Its extremely rare to ever hear of any police officer convicted or found guilty of killing someone in the course of their duties. It really doesn't matter what the circumstances are, as long as they say they felt "threatened" -even if the victim was unarmed and 20 feet away - the police are always found to be justified in their shootings.

Another poster nailed it with how people are taught to have innate respect for the police and so if they are on a jury it would take a lot to convince them.

Same thing with the military, even on Du there were people making excuses for that guy who gunned down women and children in a killing spree in Afghanistan.

[Taitertots]

18. He came at police with a large knife n/t

[dionysus]

20. article says otherwise...

[Taitertots]

21. The only people saying otherwise are the Family and their lawyers

All the people who were there have stated that he came at them with a knife.

[mojowork_n]

23. You mean the other cop, the "backup" cop?

Last edited Wed Apr 18, 2012, 01:05 PM - Edit history (1)

Who else has said anything, and where was it noted?

I mean, personally, I might be a little skeptical of "all the other people"
who were there, if that's referring only to the second cop. That would
be the same fellow that merely watched and observed, as the elderly heart
patient was tasered.

[mojowork_n]

26. That would be this 'witness' who's heard using the N...

....word, just before the fatal shot's fired?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014102855

City Police Officer Steven Hart can be heard on audiotapes using the N-word as he stood Nov. 19 at the apartment window of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., 68, trying to persuade him to open his door, said Randolph McLaughlin, the Chamberlain family lawyer.

"He's outside, at the window, tapping, tapping, tapping, and you hear him say, 'Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Chamberlain. Stop. We have to talk, n-,' " McLaughlin said Thursday.

[Beets Me]

29. How did the work "knife" even come up?

After listening to the audio transcript it was clear that the victim's sister said that SOMEONE had mentioned a "knife". But she wasn't clear about who said it and why. Did she mean that the police were wondering if he might have had a knife? Obviously SHE didn't think he had any weapons or she would have said that. But she REPORTED that someone else had mentioned the word. And at that point the dispatcher got very interested.
And then he was dead.
Problem is people don't listen. They don't seem to know how. Isolated words become paramount and pronouns and possessives seem to lurk in the background giving way to anyone's prejudices.....and need to violate somebody.
Something like this happened to me, after I had reported to the authorities that I had placed a knife in a (known) assailant's hand and said "Kill me if you want to cause I don't care...if this is what you really are, and if will calm you down." It was risky beyond words but it did calm him down, and then he dropped the knife. Then the authorities said before freeing me, "Are you sure you don't want to 'cut' anyone?" and I said no. But then the assailant pressed false charges against me anyway and I was locked up instead of him, and it wasn't even legal..the system broke every rule in the book to shut me down and lock ME up because I was a victim of domestic violence calling for help, and a woman, and poor, and had no lawyer.
Point is I never ever should have mentioned the magic "K" word. I should not have tried to explain anything.
Those people NEVER get it. They seem not to be able to understand a complete sentence....or maybe they were brainwashed to just mind the "buzz" words and rely on their own kneejerk & bigoted instincts for the rest.
He most likely WAS completely unarmed. But he was adamant and in the eyes of some, that is more dangerous than people with lethal weapons.

[NOLALady]

19. Some of us are trying.

[Blue_Tires]

25. For that matter, why isn't Rekia Boyd a bigger story?

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8611185

[mojowork_n]

27. And who many whose names we don't know? n/t

[Bigmack]

28. I'm 68... Chamberlain's age.... an ex-Marine ... like Chamberlain..

(there are no ex-Marines)

... but I'm white.

I think I'm safe... or a lot safer than Chamberlain was.

The cops won't call me "nigger", either, or make taunt me about being a Marine, like they did with Chamberlain.

This fucking country has no heart... no soul.