LI family plans to sue Suffolk County Police, claiming cops terrorized them in search for suspect
CORAM, Suffolk County (WABC) -- A Long Island family announced plans to sue the Suffolk County Police Department, saying they were assaulted, restrained and terrorized by officers who were searching for a suspect in the shooting of an officer.
The family said their hours-long ordeal happened last week as police canvased their neighborhood in Coram for the suspect in the shooting of Officer Michael LaFauci..
Suffolk County Police detained the actual suspect, 20-year-old Janell Funderburke, following a chaotic 20-minute standoff. But the Whyte family, who live blocks away from the shooting scene, said they were inexplicably targeted by police, a SWAT team storming their home in search of a gun.
The family alleged that Warren Whyte was ordered down on the ground on his front lawn, kicked in his neck and handcuffed, and that Whyte's grandmother was held in a police car so long that she urinated on herself.
"They were putting their handcuffs on me when a plainclothes officer cursed the 'F' word, (and) kicked me in the neck while I was still on the ground," Whyte said at a news conference, saying police treating him and his family "like dogs" and that the family was profiled because they are Black.
The family said they've never had so much as a traffic ticket, and Whyte said he'd worked as a police officer on the island of Jamaica. Attorney Kenneth Mollins, representing the family, said the Whytes were told they were suspects in the shooting, and police wanted to know where the gun was.
"To sit back and watch that happen, it was very heart-wrenching for me," said Sherene Whyte, Warren's wife who like her husband works as a nurse.
The family says officers at both the 6th and 7th Precinct have apologized for what happened, saying "they never should have been at their house," but there's been no public apology or explanation of why this happened.
In a statement, Suffolk County said, "We do not comment on pending litigation."
LaFauci, the officer shot while trying to arrest a robbery suspect, was released from the hospital earlier this week. On Wednesday, Funderburke, the suspect, pleaded not guilty to attempted aggravated murder of a police officer, robbery in the first degree, and second-degree menacing with a weapon.
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