A Westchester County grand jury has decided not to indict the White Plains officer who fatally shot an unarmed chronically ill elderly black man. There will be no trial for Officer Anthony Carelli, who shot Marine veteran Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr. during a tense confrontation last November. “After due deliberation on the evidence presented in this matter, the grand jury found that there was no reasonable cause to vote an indictment,” said Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore, who added that the case was “a tragedy on many levels.” more ›

Police are investigating more than 30 dogs and cats—and a large South American lizard—found dead in garbage bags along the Hutchinson River Parkway in Westchester. “It was disturbing,” Westchester County SPCA Chief Ernie Lungaro said. “Some were eaten by mice and bug-infested. It was obviously a very strong odor.” Maybe the person responsible was the same one who swung by Teddy's in Cobble Hill last week? more ›

This week, the Westchester District Attorney's Office announced they will present the case of an unarmed chronically ill elderly black man who was shot to death by White Plains police—who were supposed to have been there to help him—to a grand jury within the month. Five months after that shooting, police finally revealed the name of the officer who shot Marine veteran Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr.—and it turns out that White Plains Officer Anthony Carelli is due in court later this month in a federal police brutality case. more ›

Last November, an unarmed chronically ill elderly black man was shot to death by White Plains police who were supposed to have been there to help him. Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr., a former Marine who suffered from a chronic heart condition and wore a pendant to signal LifeAid, had mistakenly triggered his medical alert—and although he told police he was fine, he ended up in an hour-long standoff with an officer screaming: "I don't give a f*** n*****, open the door." Police broke in and shot him with stun and beanbag guns—and now, four months after claiming the shooting was "justified" as self-defense, the Westchester District Attorney's Office announced they will present the case to a grand jury within the month. more ›

It is essential that you join your pets in the Afterlife, because wouldn't it suck if some other spirit family started feeding them and changed their name to Biscuit? Not to mention the awkward encounters at the dog run in the sky. So pet lovers should be relieved to know that the state's Cemetery Board has concluded that human ashes may be buried in Westchester's Hartsdale Pet Cemetery. "I feel great," Bronx resident Rhona Levy, who has been fighting to be buried with her dogs and cats, tells the Post. However, the Board did caution that humans still have markedly less chances of getting into Heaven than dogs. more ›

Three women, who didn't know each other and were not traveling together, say they were ejected, one by one, from an AirTran flight out of West Palm Beach yesterday afternoon for simply airing grievances. Marilyn Miller, a 55-year-old lawyer from Westchester, was the first to go. She says she was settling into her seat for the flight to White Plains when she observed a flight attendant indelicately shove her carry-on bag into another overhead compartment. "I said, 'Hey, I have breakables in that," she recalls. more ›

You'll recall, with horror, that 16 dogs died in their cages in a fire at an illegal breeding kennel in Westchester last week. The Cane Corso dogs (also called Italian Mastiffs) were housed in a 20-by-20-foot single-story shed that was equipped with space heaters, and the fire was reportedly sparked by one of the heaters. The dogs' owner, Ross Taylor, was previously busted for operating an illegal dog breeding kennel in 2006 at the same address. But while he is in violation of the local housing codes, he will face no criminal charges. more ›

It's election day, and the polls in NYC are open until 9 p.m. (PDF). You can see who is running your district by entering your address here—you'll be able to see your voting location and a sample ballot. The biggest race in NYC might be the battle for Staten Island DA, between incumbent Daniel Donovan, a Republican, and Democratic challenger Mike Ryan. The Staten Island Advance reports, "Those working on both sides of the race expect between 25,000 and 30,000 voters will go to the polls today. At the high end, that would be little more than 10 percent of the borough's 268,181 registered voters." So if you can vote in SI, you should go to the polls to show your voice! more ›

Every once in a while, an exotic animal gets blown way off course and winds up in New York, where confused locals point quizzically at the nature before them and wonder what the hell to do with it. Fortunately for the pink flamingo that wound up in Westchester, an actual wildlife expert was on hand to save the day. more ›

16 dogs housed in a 20-by-20-foot single-story shed died in an early morning fire today at an illegal breeding kennel in Westchester. The fire was reported at 6:51 a.m., and brought under control within minutes, but it was too late to save the animals trapped inside their cages. Local police in Greenburgh, NY tell LoHud.com that the dogs were a breed of Cane Corsos. Eight were puppies, and the others were 5 months to 7 years old. more ›

The father of the Westchester woman who was killed by her husband Sam Friedlander, who also fatally shot their two children before committing suicide himself, is fighting back at accusations that his daughter was emotionally abusive to Friedlander. Gary Perez told the Journal News that Friendlander made his daughter Amy get an abortion when she became pregnant with their third child, "He said he was too old to have more children. And when she got home, he not once did anything to help her. She was very upset, and she was having difficulty coming to terms with it. When she expressed this to her husband, he told her to 'deal with it.'" Perez also suggested that Friedlander was too interested in their 10-year-old daughter. more ›

18-year-old Westchester resident Jesse Wasserman, better known as the "Boarding School Bandit" after his tenure at the tony Vermont Academy, was sentenced to 16 months in prison yesterday for his role in a string of Central Park armed robberies last summer. "I am very sorry for what happened to these innocent victims," Wasserman said, "I was not in my right mind." DNAinfo reports that the judge gave Wasserman youthful offender status, meaning that his records will be sealed after he serves his time. Wasserman's accomplice, Alex Greene, who allegedly brandished the firearm during the robberies, has yet to be sentenced. more ›

Fifteen people were arrested at Rye Playland amusement park in Westchester County yesterday afternoon, and two charged with felony assault after a melee broke out when a park employee asked a Muslim woman to remove her headscarf before boarding a ride. The woman who attempted to ride the Dragon Rollercoaster, Haifa Ali, tells Patch that after she was told she couldn't ride unless she removed her hijab, she and a group of other Muslim women went to ask for a refund. Then "someone grabbed her hijab…a park ranger wrestled another one of the women to the ground," when "law enforcement began to converge on the group, hitting them with batons." Another eyewitness not with the group says she heard one female police officer yell, "I don't give a f*ck about your culture." more ›

A Spring Valley man was electrocuted earlier today attempting to save a 5-year-old boy who was shocked by a live wire. 50-year-old father of four David Reichenburg died assisting the boy's father, who also was trying to aid his injured son, after the boy grabbed a live downed power line on his street. The boy remains in critical condition in a Westchester hospital, while the boy's father has been treated and released, LoHud reports. more ›

18-year-old Westchester resident Jesse Wasserman pleaded guilty today to an armed robbery spree in Central Park last summer. Dubbed the "Boarding School Bandit" because he previously attended the $42K/year Vermont Academy, Wasserman and another teenager he "tagged along" with allegedly used a rubber gun to rob three victims until police surrounded them after one victim called 911. more ›

Remember last month, when the city told pet lovers they couldn't accompany their beloved furry friends to the Great Beyond? Unsurprisingly, the move didn't go over so well then, and it's not going over so well now, either, with protests against the measure gaining traction. more ›

A small plane crashed in Armonk yesterday, killing four people, including two 14-year-old girls. The plane, which was piloted by Manhattan resident Keith Weiner and contained his wife, daughter, and her friend, had just taken off from Westchester County Airport when he contacted an emergency control tower to say they needed to make an emergency landing. "He was such a good pilot. He was meticulous, so careful. We used to practice what would happen in the event of an emergency like this -- something had to have gone horribly wrong," his 85-year-old father William Weiner, also a pilot, told the Post. more ›

Bad news for pets and their beloved owners: New York's Division of Cemeteries has instructed animal cemeteries to stop burying the ashes of pet owners alongside deceased Lassies and Patches. And as you can imagine, owners who have been affected are none too pleased about it: "Suddenly I'm not at peace anymore. You want to be with the people you are closest with, your true loved ones. The only loved ones I have in my life right now are my pets, which I consider my children." Bronx resident Rhona Levy told NBC. more ›

Joseph Yannai, 67-year-old Westchester cookbook author and admitted "dirty old man," was found guilty yesterday of luring young foreign women to come work for him as assistants and then sexually abusing them in his Pound Ridge home. The married Yannai, who earlier this week tried to commit suicide for the second time since being arrested, phoned into court to hear the verdict. more ›

In case it's not obvious: secret agencies don't recruit in suburban shopping malls, but psychos do. A Connecticut man is accused of recruiting black and Hispanic men for a fake secret agency, and then torturing them with needles, rope, strapping tape and vegetable oil. more ›

A Manhattan cop who drunkenly mowed down two light poles and two parking meters one night in Westchester allegedly got favors from local police who bent over backwards to help him. And according to a surveillance recording (below) of the drunk cop's colleague, the unidentified officer was so drunk that he initially spurned the favors extended to him by Westchester police and refused to take even the light summonses. Murray Weiss at DNAinfo obtained the recording, which is being investigated in connection with that ticket-fixing scandal in the Bronx, in which up to 40 cops could be indicted. Listen as the drunk cop's buddy describes being woken up in the middle of the night by a Westchester police sergeant: more ›

Attorneys defending a 67 year-old Westchester cookbook author from federal human trafficking violations and sexual abuse charges are attempting to suppress information that he had a legal, consensual encounter with a 16 year-old girl in Michigan in 2008. (At the time, the age of consent in that state was 16.) The Post reports that the lawyers told the judge "the questionable ethical and moral choice of an older man sleeping with a very young female would "lead many jurors to hate [Joseph] Yannai," and after stressing that his behavior was "not criminal," it "would certainly be viewed as abhorrent by a large portion of society." more ›

Last week, the officer who shot and killed Pace University student Danroy Henry amidst a chaotic Westchester night last fall was honored with the "Officer of the Year" award by his union. Henry's family was understandably upset at the honor, and now, has filed a wrongful death suit against the officer, as well as The Village of Pleasantville. "The pain of losing our son so suddenly is insatiable and not only has his absence changed us forever, but his suffering will always haunt us as well," the family said in a statement. more ›

After receiving a report about a break-in at the Woods III condominium complex in Peekskill yesterday morning, police responded to the home shortly after 8:30 a.m. to conduct a search. And they say it didn't take long to turn up one Lizbeth Hernandez, 47, hiding in the closet with a large carving knife and a roll of duct tape. Surprise! more ›

Last fall, 20-year-old Pace University student Danroy Henry was shot and killed by police after hitting a cop with his car amidst a chaotic Westchester night. In February, a Westchester grand jury ultimately declined to bring charges against the two police officers who fatally shot him. And now, one of those officers has been given the "Officer of the Year" award by his union, and the decision has enraged Henry's parents: "It's consistent with the arrogant behavior and the insensitivity we have received since October 17," said the victim's mother, Angella Henry. more ›