Cop will testify in shooting

THE OFFICER who fired the bullet that killed a former Marine is expected to testify in front of a grand jury that begins hearing testimony on Wednesday.

Officer Anthony Carelli’s lawyer hopes the panel will agree with the early police accounts of the Nov. 19 shooting — that the White Plains cop acted in selfdefense. Police said Kenneth Chamberlain, 68, was menacing cops with a knife when he was killed during the early morning clash.

“We trust that the grand jury will rightfully determine that Officer Carelli’s actions, while perhaps not understandable or acceptable to the family members, attorneys and other emissaries of the Chamberlain family, were justified under our laws,” Carelli’s lawyer, Andrew Quinn, said.

Police came to Chamberlain’s apartment around 5 a.m. after an accidental medical alert. Chamberlain was screaming that he didn’t need police at his apartment, according to witnesses and recordings of parts of the confrontation. Cops broke the hinges off his door, burst inside, Tasered him and fired bean bags at Chamberlain before squeezing off the lethal shot.

In addition to the recordings and witness accounts, the grand jury will review the autopsy report first revealed by the Daily News.

Michael Baden, a former city medical examiner, reviewed the autopsy report at the request of The News and agreed with Chamberlain’s lawyers that the man’s right arm was by his side. Baden, a nationally-known forensic pathologist, said it was impossible to determine if he had a knife.