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Son of Shooting Victim Kenneth Chamberlain Meets with Prosecutors

HeadlineMar 30, 2012

And this update to a story from Thursday’s broadcast on the case of Kenneth Chamberlain, a 68-year-old African-American Marine veteran fatally shot by White Plains, New York, police in his home last year. On Thursday, Chamberlain’s son, Kenneth Chamberlain Jr., met with Westchester County prosecutors, who assured him that a grand jury will hear evidence in the case. Kenneth Chamberlain Jr. has called for the prosecution of the officers who killed his father. After the meeting, he criticized police for refusing to release the name of the officer who fired the fatal shots. The police had responded to a false alarm from Chamberlain’s medical alert pendant. The officers broke down Chamberlain’s door, tasered him, and then shot him dead. Speaking to Democracy Now!, Kenneth Chamberlain Jr. described an audio recording from the medical alert system operator that captured the moment the police barged into his father’s home.

Kenneth Chamberlain Jr.: “You hear him asking them why are they doing this to him. He says, ’I’m a 68-year-old man with a heart condition. Why are you doing this to me? I know what you’re going to do: you’re going to come in here, and you’re going to kill me.’ You also hear him pleading with the officers again, over and over. And at one point, that’s when the expletive is used by one of the police officers.”

Amy Goodman: “What did they say?”

Kenneth Chamberlain Jr.: “Where they say, 'I don’t give a F.' And then they use the N-word. And then, as I said, ultimately, they bust down the door.”

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