NEW ROCHELLE, NY (July 12, 2023) — Thirty people, many of them long-time New Rochelle residents, addressed the City Council last night during the monthly Citizens to be Heard segment of the City Council Committee of the Whole Meeting.
The speakers included civic and religious leaders, medical professionals, gang members, educators, two school board members, a DJ in a tall fez, family members, and many others. Despite the different ages, backgrounds and experiences, the speakers all agreed that the family members of Jerrell Garris, seated in the front of the auditorium wearing “Justice for Jamal” t-shirts, were suffering through what has been a tragedy.
The black shirts had a photo of Jerrell Garris on the front and “Justice for Jarrel /#wemustcee2it”. As of now, there are no tweets and just one IG post using the hashtag based on Garris’ nickname, Cee2.
The CBTH session last for over two hours.
After all who wished had addressed the City Council, Mayor Noam Bramson offered his condolences to the family of Jerrell Garris.
“I think it is important for me to acknowledge the pain that is in this room, to acknowledge that this has been a trauma for our entire community. And especially to acknowledge that the greatest trauma, the most personal trauma, that the heaviest burden is borne by the family of Jarrell Garris.”
There were several common statements to the effect that officers needed better training, that police should not have been called, and the police should not have arrested Jerrell Garris. Some thought police should have paid for any fruit allegedly stolen at the store or walked Garris home or talked to his parents rather than attempt to arrest him.
Notably absent among the speakers were any members of the Community Police Partnership Board or well-known members of New Rochelle’s black clergy or Rev. Jamel Hollis who is picketing New Rochelle Farms.
Henderson Clarke dominated the proceedings from start to finish with repeated statements and commentary from the audience.
When Mayor Bramson tried to discourage further outbursts, another man said, “I’ve got 40 misdemeanors, you think I give a fuck about what you’re saying”.
Myriam Decime made the most outrageous statement, directed at Yadira Ramos-Herbert, which we will not repeat here but is in the raw notes and in the video.
There were plenty of f-bombs and other non-decorous language, so for those offended by every day but course language, you might find the raw notes or video offensive.
EDITOR’S NOTE: the video is considerable so is taking a while to upload; once upload is complete we will embed our version of the video here.
Raw Notes:
Not complete, may not have correct spelling of names, for complete statements watch our video, which is edited to remove gaps.
James O’Toole: spoke supporting New Rochelle Farms, NRPD, spoke about coming together, that his father was a sports writer for many years who wrote about many of the people in the room. He was repeatedly interrupted by some in the audience.
Aisha Cooke: read NAACP New Rochelle press statement.
Vince Malfetano: accused those in the crowd from interrupting him of being fascists for shouting him down.
Kasim Parnell (sic): said it is safer to live in Mount Vernon, Yonkers, the Bronx, Brooklyn than New Rochelle where it is shoot first actions later.
Joe Andrews: asked what sort of messages police are sending to children.
Otilia Taylor-Tanner: she said she does not allow her children to go to New Rochelle Farms, prices are criminal, businesses should get anti-racism training.
Lisa Burton: said there is rush to CYA, cannot keep acting like nothing is wrong.
Valerie Williams: said food insecurity is not a death sentence, officers involved should be fired, quoted MLK.
Maxine Golub: said she ashamed and saddened to be from New Rochelle, name-checked Noam Bramson and Yadira Ramos-Herbert.
Henderson Clarke: name-checked Noam Bramson and Yadira Ramos-Herbert, said Noam “lied with a straight face” during the June 6, 2020, press conference after the death of Kamal Flowers.
Guy Coleman: name-checked Noam Bramson and Yadira Ramos-Herbert, said NRPD officers are “anxious to shoot”, raised the 1984 shooting of Albert Flowers by another officer McKenna at Church’s Fried Chicken (current site of KFC across from NRPD HQ), said “we” shut that down.
Eugene Tozzi: said he had a sense of shame, said Kamal Flowers and Jerrell Garris shootings were from same script: traffic stop, eating fruit, no white man has been shot by police, Garris did not have a gun. Project Able.
Lord Markham (sic): asked for 15 seconds of silence but did not remain silent at all, about Garris, said, “this man is crazy”, addressed O’Toole saying “all we’re good for is sports”, “nigger stay in your lane”, asked “what are we willing to sacrifice?”, “forget the store”, wants Det. Steve Conn’s home address, said Garris was shot in the neck.
Nate Adams/AAAC: paused for how long it took for Det. Steve Conn to get out of his police vehicle and said Garris was under arrest, compared New Rochelle to other municipalities with notable black populations and said NR = 2 the others = 0. “We can police ourselves”.
Sharon Footes: said “you” meaning the City government does not respect black lives, proposed picketing 500 Main Street, apparently unaware that one of the funders of that project is David Holder’s church, Holder is co-chair of the Community Police Partnership Board, she derided pseudo-church leaders,
Bruce Soloway: said there is a racist, toxic culture in NRPD, wise to release the body cam video, said police should have followed Garris “home” apparently unaware he was residing in North Carolina, said Flowers-McKenna incident still unexplained, said officers should be disciplined, CCRB is a year behind schedule, police need implicit bias training.
Dan Miller: said Jerrell Garris was a “non-threatening, non-violent man”.
Rashon Davis (sic): said 4 to 5 officers approaching you is intimidating, name-checked Noam Bramson.
Patricia O’Keefe: called for police reform, petty crime led to a homicide.
Nora LeMorin: complained that council members were on their phones, not paying attention to the CBTH speakers in front of them, should resign. Said the problem began when a vibrant black business community was raised to build I-95, put in a store hostile to the community, should have turned a blind eye to taking / eating food, asked people outside to “cover your cousin’s banana”.
Rev. James E. Booker, Jr. spoke about systemic racism, police were created to control escaping slaves, called for training of NRPD officers, release of complete body cam video.
Marvin Whittle: said he has taught his children the police are not allies
Myriam Decime: name-checked Yadira Ramos-Herbert, “your brown vagina doesn’t represent my black vagina”, “you should be ashamed of yourself”, “you did not take one vote that helped us”. She said when she asked Yadira about the location of the parking structure at new Remington BGC, you said, “I don’t know just like you didn’t know where that $60,000 came from”.
Charlene Nixon: said she was on scene the day of the shooting, and it was terrifying, we need a plan, to act.
Sean Bey (sic): he said a person cannot just take a gun out of a police holster.
Scott Stevenson: spoke about his case related to an eviction.
Patricia Ann Cherry: said she lives on the 5th floor at 33 Lincoln that her 5-year-old daughter saw the police activity, traumatic.
David Peters: said every one of us feels threatened, a sense of death.
Dr. Carla Woolbright: called for residents to organize, cannot others pick our leaders, just 4,000 voted in last month’s Democratic primary.
Lakiah Lescul (sic): said, “our people don’t want a war”, people are tired, “I hope that store never re-opens”, “this young man is innocent”.
Eric Stevenson: called for community organizing and voter registration.
Ximena Francella: spoke about mental health resources.
