New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ Office of Special Investigation today released a report on a police involved shooting t hat left a man dead in the Town of Wallkill.
Following an investigation, the Attorney General’s OSI concluded that criminal charges are not warranted for the officer involved in this case. The investigation included interviews with witnesses, review of physical evidence, photographs, dashboard camera footage, and civilian security camera footage.
The man who perished, Christopher Van Kleeck, had a history of mental illness and was well known to the Town of Wallkill Police Department, according to the AG’s report. On prior occasions, his family members called police when Van Kleeck made threats or became violent, and there were instances when Van Kleeck became violent with Town of Wallkill police officers.
On June 12, 2021, Van Kleeck’s mother called Orange County Crisis Call Center requesting help for the man, who was behaving erratically. Van Kleeck grabbed the phone from his mother, told the operator not to send anyone, and threatened to “take out” any police officers sent to the house. The operator contacted police and officers were dispatched to the house.
The dispatcher warned over the radio that Van Kleeck had threatened to harm responding officers. At around 3:30 p.m., a Town of Wallkill officer, who had been present at two prior confrontations with Van Kleeck, responded to the call.
As the officer pulled up to the house, he saw Van Kleeck outside, chasing his father with a knife in each hand. The father was running towards the patrol car, and just before he reached the car, the father turned sharply out of Van Kleeck’s path, moving behind a parked trailer. Van Kleeck continued running directly towards the patrol car with the knives still in both hands. Van Kleeck crossed directly in front of the car and was running towards the driver’s side when the officer fired his service weapon through the windshield three times, striking Van Kleeck once.
The chase across the lawn was captured by nearby civilian security cameras, and the shooting was captured by those same security cameras and the dashboard camera in the officer’s car.
The officer and additional responding members of the Town of Wallkill Police Department removed the knives from Van Kleeck’s reach, called for emergency medical services, and began life saving measures. Emergency medical personnel arrived at 3:43 p.m. and brought Van Kleeck to Orange Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 4:14 p.m.
Under New York’s justification law, a person may use deadly physical force to defend against the imminent use of deadly physical force by another. To convict a person of a crime when the defense of justification is raised at trial, the prosecution must disprove justification beyond a reasonable doubt.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, the officer who shot Van Kleeck was present at prior confrontations with him and heard the dispatcher say he had threatened to harm responding officers. When the officer arrived at the home, Van Kleeck was chasing his father with two knives drawn before he ran toward the patrol car. Based on the law and the evidence, under these circumstances, the Attorney General’s Office stated a prosecutor would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer was justified, and OSI determined that criminal charges could not be pursued against the officer.
