Free Speech or Harassment?
NEW ROCHELLE, NY (January 19, 2023) — Henderson Clarke, 44, of New Rochelle, NY was arrested on November 30, 2022 by the Westchester County Police Department.
He was picked up on a warrant signed by Judge Robert A. Neary on November 29, 2022 after a Westchester County Grand Jury handed down a 6-count indictment stemming from alleged threats made by Clarke between October 8, 2021, and November 15, 2022 against New Rochelle Police Officer Alec McKenna, other officers and the New Rochelle Police Department.
Clarke was arraigned on six counts of Aggravated Harassment—2, A Misdemeanors, in Westchester County Supreme Court, before Judge Neary on November 30, 2022. Clarke pleaded not guilty and was ROR’d.
It is not common for a Grand Jury Indictment to list only misdemeanors and, according to Clarke, the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office offered to settle the case almost immediately after his arraignment. Clarke noted that DA Mimi Rocah has had an adversarial relationship with New Rochelle PBA members since charging Detective Michael Vaccaro with Attempted Assault—3rd on June 17, 2021 for punching and kicking a suspect, actions recorded on a smartphone by a passerby. He believes her going after him is an effort to pacify NRPD officers.
Richard Louis Ferrante has been assigned to represent Clarke on the Westchester County dockets.
Clarke is due back in Westchester County Supreme Court on February 28, 2023.
Clarke spoke with Talk of the Sound following his arrest on the charges contained in the Indictment. He says he is angry and depressed over the shooting death of Kamal Flowers. He mentioned McKenna and several other police officers who he says have a history of harassing Black New Rochelle residents, including him. He described a series of incidents where he says police officers went out of their way to engage with him and provoke him.
Clarke said he would not back down when provoked by police officers, some of whom he has known long before they became police officers, going back to his days as a student-athlete at New Rochelle High School.
Clarke is aware of a Talk of the Sound investigation that found McKenna, in his first five years on the job at the New Rochelle Police Department, racked up one of the worst disciplinary records in the history of the department. McKenna ranked in the bottom 3 for worst disciplinary records of all-time, along with Vaccaro, who is currently in the middle of a termination hearing his alleged assault of Malik Fogg in 2021.
Police Officer Alec McKenna joined the New Rochelle Police Department on July 29, 2015. At the end of August 2019, Third Tour Supervisors became aware of incidents involving traffic stops by McKenna which “caused them concerns”, according to disciplinary records seen by Talk of the Sound. An internal affair’s investigation confirmed the concerns of supervisors.
Two Internal Affairs cases were opened: #2019-28 on 9/5/19 and #2019-29 on 116/2019. According to the NRPD Command Discipline Report for P.O. Alec McKenna dated December 16, 2019, McKenna was cited for a total of 158 violations in an investigation period that ran from June 23, 2019 to August 24, 2019. Investigators only stopped finding violations because they stopped looking. The majority of the 158 violations related to improper actions during traffic stops, like turning off dash cam video recorders and not calling in traffic stops.
On December 16, 2019, McKenna was given two separate Command Disciplines resulting from the pair of overlapping investigations. McKenna agreed to accept forfeiting a total of 7 days of leave, an extraordinarily severe disposition.
After the shooting death of Kamal Flowers, City officials claimed McKenna was never accused of, nor found to have used, excessive force, nor did he ever draw his gun in the line of duty before the June 5 shooting.
A Talk of the Sound demonstrated this claim to be false.
A Use of Report for January 11, 2020, less than 5 months before McKenna shot Flowers, describes how McKenna made a highly questionable traffic stop for a supposedly illegal U-Turn on Lincoln Avenue (where U-Turns are legal), misreporting the location as the Memorial Highway overpass, then brandished his weapon at a couple of 24-year-olds African-Americas, both of whom were later released.
Using police records, Talk of the Sound conclusively demonstrated that the entire police narrative of the days leading up to Flowers’ death was one lie piled on top of another. NRPD has never corrected their false narrative.
SEE: Kamal Flowers Press Conference Featured Noam Bramson’s Useful Idiots
McKenna was placed on paid Administrative Leave in 2020 after he discharged his weapon, shooting and killing Kamal Flowers on June 5, 2020. On November 4, 2020, a Westchester County Grand Jury cleared McKenna in the officer-involved shooting of Kamal Flowers. A subsequent NRPD investigation cleared McKenna, and he was restored to active duty on March 25, 2021. He has since been assigned to the Westchester County Real-Time Crime Center in Valhalla, NY, according to New Rochelle Police Commissioner Robert Gazzola. McKenna has received several NRPD commendations since the officer-involved shooting on June 5, 2020.
Clarke is active on social media, including promoting his efforts for police accountability, in particular as it relates to Kamal Flowers. In response to the indictment, Clarke questioned why, if what he published was criminal, Instagram and Facebook did not sanction or shut down his accounts for violating their terms of his service. He says the real issue is police do not want him to exercise his First Amendment rights to resist the behavior of police or question their narrative in the shooting death of Kamal Flowers.
In a video posted to his Instagram account, Clarke explained his position.
In another Instagram post, Clarke sings to McKenna.
In a YouTube video, he recreates the shooting death of Kamal Flowers by Alex McKenna.
In another YouTube video, he confronts New Rochelle Police officers in front of NRPD Headquarters.
According to the indictment, Clarke is alleged to have made 4 threatening Instagram posts and 1 threatening Facebook post over a 13-month period; Clarke did, with “intent to harass, annoy or alarm” McKenna, “engage in a course of conduct or repeatedly commit acts which alarmed or seriously annoyed” McKenna and which “served no legitimate purpose.”
Three of the Instagram posts are comments on posts on the Talk of the Sound Instagram account.
Talk of the Sound has obtained copies of the social media posts that were presented to the Grand Jury. Each of the screenshots were taken within less than 12 hours of the post — in one case just 12 minutes — which suggests that investigators are monitoring Clarke’s social media accounts.
No Game Clothing, the basis for some of Clarke’s social media handles, is Clarke’s business, operating out of a storefront located at 476A North Avenue, directly across the street from NRPD Headquarters located at 475 North Avenue.
Count 1 (October 8, 2021)
8 hours ago
FUCK THEM THE ONE ON THE LEFT (Alec McKenna) KILLED MY BROTHER AND IF I EVER SEE HIM IN PERSON HE JOINING HIM
IT’S ABOUT TO GET REAL UGLY… I’M SHUTTING THE STREETS DOWN ON MY MOTHER. I’M BACK AT IT FULL THROTTLE
I’M ON A SUICIDE MISSION NOW
FUCK LIFE IM READY TO DIE FOR THIS SHIT NOW
THE ULTIMATE DISRESPECT TO MY FAMILY….. JUST KNOW NOISE WILL BE FUCKING MADE. FUCK NEW ROCHELLE POLICE DEPARTMENT… I SEE WHY POLICE ARE GETTING KILLED ACROSS THE COUNTRY….. IT’S BECAUSE THIS FUCKED UP COUNTRY HONORS MURDERERS… NOW IF A STATEMENT OF KILLING A COP WAS MADE THE GOVERNMENT WOULD BE SCARED AS SHIT AND TERRORIST THREATS WILL BE CHARGED TO SUCH PERSON…. FUCK THE ENTIRE USA JUDICIAL SYSTEM… YALL CAN SMD
Count 2 (October 8, 2021)
6 hours ago
A cartoon image depicting an explosion at New Rochelle Police Department headquarters .
Count 3 (April 16, 2022)
7 hours ago
F*** NRPD
THE WAY IM RIDING FOR MY LIL BROTHER KAMAL FLOWERS…
BUT BEFORE THAT HAPPENS I’LL
KILL ONE OF THEM FIRST
I’M READY TO DIE FOR MINE AND THE ONLY OPTION TO SHUT
ME UP IS TO KILL ME…
AND THAT’S ON MOMMAS LOVE SOUL..
#JUSTICEFORKAMALFLOWERS
GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH…
Count 4 (April 18, 2022)
11 hours ago
A photographic image depicting plastic baggies containing marijuana with text reading “McKenna Packs on Deck”.
Count 5 (November 15, 2022)
12 minutes ago
IMA RUN N INTO YOU ONE DAY COWARD… AND THE DIALOGUE IMA HAVE FOR YOU IS GONNA FEEL LIKE YOU BEEN MURDERED.
REMEMBER THE NAME AND THE FACE
OF A COWARD WHO SHOOTS A MAN A BROTHER A FATHER A LOVED ONE IN THE BACK THEN CONTINUES TO SHOOT HIM DOWN…. I HAVE THE VIDEO THAT CONTRADICTS THE STATEMENT OF THE COWARD AFTER HE WAS EXONERATED BY A DIRTY CORRUPT RACIST FORMER D.A. (Anthony Scarpino)
F —- ALEC MCKENNA… #JUSTICEFORKAMALFLOWERS #LONGLIVEKAMALFLOWERS
Count 6 (October 8, 2021 to November 5, 2022)
Between October 8, 2021, and November 5, 2022, Clarke “did with intent to harass, annoy or alarm another person (Alec McKenna) engage in a course of conduct or repeatedly commits acts which alarmed or seriously annoyed such other person and which serve no legitimate purpose.”
Investigation
On the afternoon of March 19, 2022, Clarke was interviewed by an NRPD Detective at New Rochelle Police Department headquarters at 470 North Avenue. A recording of that interview will be entered into evidence by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office in the case, according to court records filed by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.
Unrelated Violations
Clarke has been arrested twice in 2022, prior to the indictment, on unrelated charges. Both cases are proceeding in the New Rochelle City Court. Thomas Kajubi has been assigned to represent Clarke on the New Rochelle dockets.
Clarke was arrested on October 8, 2022 by New Rochelle Police following a verbal altercation between Clarke and two New Rochelle Police officers at Fosina Field at City Park at a football game between New Rochelle High School and Ossining High School. He was charged with Disorderly Conduct (obscene language/ gestures), a violation. He was arraigned, pleaded not guilty and ROR’d.
Clarke was arrested on March 19, 2022 New Rochelle Police following a traffic stop on Brook Street. He was charged with Disorderly Conduct (fight/ violent behavior); Disorderly Conduct (unreasonable noise); Disorderly Conduct (obscene language/ gestures, all violations; Obstructing Governmental Administration- 2nd, an A Misdemeanor. He was arraigned, pleaded not guilty and ROR’d.
Clarke’s cases can only be heard in New Rochelle City Court by Judge Eileen Songer-McCarthy. Judge Matthew J. Costa and Judge Jared R. Rice recused themselves because have past relationships with Clarke.
His next appearance in New Rochelle City Court is March 20, 2023.