Inside the New Rochelle Police Department Clown Show — Part VII

ALAN SILVERMAN

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — On June 22, 2004, a rising Senior at New Rochelle High School was driving home after taking his last exam of his Junior year when the vehicle he was driving crashed into a utility pole and died. Subin Thomas would have turned 17 on July 11, 2004.

Thomas John, Subin’s father, told The Journal News the next day, the 11th grader at New Rochelle High School had just taken his last exam yesterday before the accident happened, that he was a very good student, a member of the National Honor Society who took advanced courses, played the violin, enjoyed computer games, and was planning to visit colleges that summer. His father was a New York City Transit worker and his mother a nurse. He had a younger brother.

The City School District of New Rochelle issued a statement to The Journal News that a crisis team of psychologists social workers and guidance counselors had been notified of the accident and would be on hand the next morning at the high school prepared to handle any problems with the students and staff.

Liz Sadler, with Ken Valenti, David McKay Wilson and Sean Gorman contributing, wrote a story which appeared in The Journal News on June 23, 2004, accompanied by a photograph taken by Angela Gaul: Boy, 16, killed after he loses control of car/New Rochelle H.S. student alone in vehicle, hit utility pole.

The story cited a statement by the New Rochelle Police Department with details about the accident: Subin Thomas apparently lost control of his car and struck a utility pole as he was driving North on Pinebrook Boulevard near Tulip Lane, the vehicle involved was a 2001 Toyota Camry, Thomas was the sole occupant, the accident occurred shortly after 3 p.m., Thomas was declared dead at the scene, the stretch of Pinebrook Boulevard where the accident occurred was apparently deserted at the time of the crash, a fire truck returning from a call pass the accident scene and called an ambulance, Pinebrook Boulevard from Quaker Ridge Road to Tulip Lane was closed as emergency personnel responded.

Sadler wrote, as police investigated the cause of the accident the mangled car remained twisted around the pole in the late afternoon.

Not reported at the time and apparently unknown to the family, is that the New Rochelle Police Department soon after opened a second, secret, investigation into police misconduct involving the police response at the scene of the death of Subin Thomas.

Immediately after the accident, two officers from the NRPD Traffic Division were assigned to investigate the fatal automobile accident on Pinebrook Boulevard and Tulip Lane.

According to a policy disciplinary report dated August 16, 2004, witnessed by then-Captain Robert Gazzola, seen by Talk of the Sound, while investigating the accident and prior to the deceased operator being removed from the vehicle, P.O. Alan Silverman (left) and P.O. Edward Siller (right), pictured posing behind Subin Thomas’ mangled car in The Journal News photograph, both police officers exchanged numerous comments that were inappropriate and unprofessional. Additionally, some of the photographs taken at the accident scene by PO Silverman and PO Siller were unprofessional and disrespectful to the victim and his surviving family. Both these actions took place in front of other members of this department as well as civilians.

The Internal Affairs investigation was based on a complaint filed by Sergeant Joseph Giannotti, dated July 28, 2004. The report makes reference to “RS”, another member of NRPD who was on scene with Silverman and Siller.

At the time, Silverman had about 3 1/2 years with the department, Siller had close to 11 years with the department. Siller joined the New Rochelle Police Department on August 23, 1993, and retired on August 23, 2013, with a pension of $47,628.48. Silverman joined the New Rochelle Police Department on February 26, 2001, and retired earlier this year. His total pay last year was $113,927.07. His pension is not yet listed online.

The narrative section of the disciplinary record for PO Silverman reads as follows:

At 1510 hours June 22, 2004. PO Silverman, and PO Siller responded to the intersection of Pinebrook Boulevard and Tulip Lane to investigate a fatal motor vehicle accident. The MVA was a one vehicle accident. The vehicle which went off the roadway struck a bus stop sign and came to rest after striking a utility pole. The 16-year-old operator of the motor vehicle died of massive head trauma and was still in the vehicle at the time PO Silverman and PO Siller arrived on the scene. During the course of their investigation, PO Silverman, and PO Siller exchanged numerous comments that were inappropriate and unprofessional.

“RS” advised both POs several times that the comments are uncalled for and unnecessary and to stop with any further comments.

The accident scene was photographed by PO Silverman. PO Siller assisted the Medical Examiner investigator in removing the victim from the vehicle. The accident scene photos were developed several weeks later. Some photos from the accident scene taken with a Department camera were unprofessional and disrespectful to the victim and his surviving family.

Recommended Discipline for PO Silverman: Loss of One Leave Day

The IA records, which appear to be incomplete, do not include a description of the inappropriate or disrespectful statements made by PO Silverman and PO Siller, or a description of the inappropriate or disrespectful photographs taken by PO Silverman or the inappropriate or disrespectful conduct of PO Siller depicted in the photographs or the photographs.

Captain George Rosenbergen, the NRPD Records Access Officer, did not produce any disciplinary records for PO Siller, and affirmatively stated he was unable to locate any disciplinary records for PO Siller.

Attempts to reach the family were unsuccessful.

RELATED: Alan Silverman: Son of Beverly Silverman, “unexpectedly resigned” from New Rochelle Civil Service Commission related to giving “no show” jobs to family members, including Silverman’s wife.

The Complete Series (as published so far):

Inside the New Rochelle Police Department Clown Show — Table of Contents

The Clown Show series is a multipart series reporting on New Rochelle Police Department Internal Affairs disciplinary records of current and former members of the department.

We are keeping the comments section closed until the series has run its course, but if you have your own experience with The Clown Show, please share at robertcox@talkofthesound.com or call/text/signal at 914-325-4616. We cannot do much without details like names of officers, dates, locations, so be as specific as you can. Give us a way to reply and follow up.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The NRPD disciplinary records published in our series Inside the New Rochelle Police Department Clown Show were confidential under New York State Law since 1976 when New York State enacted 50-a, a section of the New York Civil Rights Law, which hid disciplinary records of police officers, firefighters, and prison officers from the public. 50-a was repealed by the New York State Legislature and signed into law by New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo on June 12, 2020. On that day, Talk of the Sound made its first request for disciplinary records of New Rochelle Police Department officers, those of PO Alec McKenna. Those records were illegally withheld by the City of New Rochelle and the NRPD. In response, we filed an additional 834 requests based on current and past police department rosters, press releases, award ceremony programs and New York State police pension records obtained from the New York State Office of the State Comptroller. NRPD has claimed that about 200 of those requests are duplicative due to slight variations and discrepancies in how names of officers are recorded by NRPD, NRPD Internal Affairs and the New York State Police and Fire Retirement System. Those 600+ records were illegally withheld by the City of New Rochelle and the NRPD. Production of these records began on March 4, 2021, and continued in fits and starts over the following 8 months. As of the publication date of this article, NRPD had yet to complete production of all requested disciplinary records. For the reasons described above, our “Clown Show” series is reporting on incidents in the past, sometimes the distant past, but our obtaining the records published in this series has only just occurred in recent months, weeks, or days and so while the Internal Affairs charges, investigations and resulting command disciplines are not new the public disclosure of them is new, hence “news”. Most, if not all, of the information contained in these decades of previously secret records is becoming known to the public for the first time through this series.