NEW ROCHELLE, NY (March 11, 2022) — Timothy McKnight, a former member of the New Rochelle Police Review Committee who was arrested in September 2020 after crashing his car while intoxicated with a loaded handgun in the center console, pleaded guilty today in New Rochelle City Court to Driving While Intoxicated and Disorderly Conduct.
McKnight, 32, entered guilty pleas to DWI-First Offense and Disorderly Conduct for Creating a Hazardous Condition before Judge Rice. The disorderly conduct conviction will be sealed under CPL 160.55.
McKnight was sentenced to a six-month license revocation, a $500 fine on the DWI count, a $200 fine on the disorderly conduct count, and a one-year conditional discharge. Surcharges on both counts bring his total financial obligation to approximately $890, due by June 30.
The Arrest
McKnight was arrested on September 18, 2020, after crashing his car near 80 Pintard Avenue shortly before midnight. Responding officers found McKnight exhibiting signs of intoxication — slurred speech, watery and glassy eyes, the odor of alcohol, and impaired motor coordination. He failed standard field sobriety tests. An open bottle of Hennessy was recovered from the floor of the front passenger seat of his vehicle, a 2020 white BMW 350 with New Jersey plates.
A loaded 9mm Glock 43X pistol was recovered from the unlocked center console of McKnight’s vehicle after a police detective observed him pushing down on the console as the officer approached.
McKnight held a valid Westchester County pistol permit restricted to target shooting only. New Rochelle Police Captain Cosmo Costa said at the time that the District Attorney’s Office would determine whether McKnight’s possession of the loaded firearm in his vehicle violated the conditions of that permit.
On October 20, 2020, the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office filed an additional charge against McKnight: Criminal Possession of a Firearm Outside the Parameters of a Permit, a misdemeanor. Assistant District Attorney Matthew John confirmed the filing at the time. That charge does not appear among today’s pleas, and its resolution was not separately addressed in court.
McKnight’s attorney, Randolph Rifas, told the court in November 2020 that McKnight was enrolled in the New York State Treatment Alternatives for Safer Communities (TASC) program at the Oasis Shelter in New Rochelle.
The September 2020 arrest was not McKnight’s first encounter with police over alleged impaired driving. On March 31, 2019, New York State Police troopers arrested McKnight on the Palisades Interstate Parkway in the Town of Clarkstown after his vehicle became stuck in the median. Troopers who responded to assist him determined he was impaired by alcohol.
The Police Review Committee
McKnight was a member of the New Rochelle Police Review Committee, a 14-member body convened in 2020 to study police reform proposals in the wake of the killing of Kamal Flowers by New Rochelle Police Officer Alec McKenna. McKnight was removed from the committee following his September 2020 arrest.
The committee’s work eventually informed the city’s adoption of the Community-Police Partnership Board in 2021.
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This article was prepared with the assistance of AI tools under the direction and editing of Robert Cox.
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