November 21, 2016 - 11:51 AM
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - A jury has rejected a $21 million wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the family of a mentally ill black man who accidentally set off his medical alert device and then was fatally shot by a white police officer who showed up at his suburban New York home.
The federal jury Thursday decided White Plains Officer Anthony Carelli was right to shoot Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. during a 2011 standoff.
Chamberlain's son blasted the verdict, saying the "judge gave the city of White Plaines the license to kill with impunity."
The family says the shooting was racially motivated. Its lawsuit went forward after a grand jury declined to indict the officer.
Carelli testified he "had no other option" but to shoot Chamberlain because he believed Chamberlain was about to harm a police sergeant.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016