New Rochelle police shot man over fruit, family alleges. They want full video, witnesses

The family of the 37-year-old man New Rochelle police shot this week called Friday for witnesses to come forward to piece together the events that left him on life support.

A police detective shot Jarrell Garris, a New Rochelle native, on Monday while attempting to arrest Garris after accusing him of stealing food, said New York State Police, who are investigating the shooting. Some footage preceding the shooting has been released by the New Rochelle Police Department.

On a sweltering summer afternoon, Rev. Kevin McCall, Garris' family spokesperson, told reporters the shooting was over a banana and grapes Garris ate.

The family held an emotional press conference in the shade, surrounded by dozens of community members, many of whom knew Garris and his family for years. Garris went by ”Jarrel” on his Facebook page, while some family members used the spelling ”Jarrell” and law enforcement used ”Jerrel.”

"If you had the opportunity to meet my son, you would love him," said Garris' father Raymond Fowler, 58, outside St. Catherine A.M.E. Zion Church, just feet from where police shot Garris in the street on Lincoln Avenue. "To know my son is to love him."

Earlier on Friday, some family and community members said Garris had died, but later Fowler, a longtime New Rochelle native, clarified that Garris is on life support.

NYS Police investigating shooting NYS Police: New Rochelle detective fired one round while trying to arrest man accused of stealing

A shooting over fruit, family says

Garris was in the area to pick up his son and take him back to Greensboro, North Carolina, where Garris had been living for less than a year. They planned to head home Monday evening.

But at around 4:30 p.m. on Monday, police responded to reports of a person stealing food at New Rochelle Farms, a grocery store on Lincoln and North avenues.

Bodycam footage released by the New Rochelle Police Department shows police officers Kari Bird and Gabrielle Chavarry, along with Det. Steven Conn, confronting Garris on Lincoln Avenue and asking about stolen food.

State Police released the officers' names Wednesday, and all three officers have been placed on administrative leave pending the results of the State Police investigation. Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah's Office is also investigating the shooting.

In the bodycam footage, Garris doesn’t appear to respond to the officers. Bird and Chavarry follow him across the street while a third officer, Conn, approaches.

The video then shows Garris in a scuffle with the officers as they attempt to place him under arrest. In the physical struggle, Garris reaches in the direction of one of the officer’s holstered firearms, the video shows, though it's unclear which officer he reached toward. He then topples over a female officer, and one officer shouts, “He’s got a gun, he’s got a gun," the video shows.

In a press release Monday night, the police department said Garris reached at the officer’s gun “in an attempt to remove it from the holster.”

The video provided by the police department ends before Conn shoots his weapon. A police spokesperson said the video ends before it shows Garris getting shot out of respect for his family. The USA Today Network has filed a Freedom of Information request for the full body camera footage from all three officers.

While Conn attempted to arrest Garris, he fired one round from his department-issued firearm and hit Garris, said State Police. Bodycam video shows a handcuff on Garris' right hand during the struggle.

No additional rounds were fired, State Police said.

Officers used lifesaving techniques, State Police said. Garris was ultimately transported to Westchester Medical Center. He was in a coma in the days following the shooting.

Jarrel Garris' family calls for full video, witnesses

Garris' family, through their spokesperson McCall, disputed the events police recounted. They called for an independent investigation with Attorney General Letitia James, and for a full video to be released of the encounter.

"You want to be transparent, release the whole video to show the pictures of the truth," McCall told reporters. "The video does not lie. This young man should be here today. Him eating fruit, grapes and a banana, should not be his death sentence."

In the meantime, the family also requested help from witnesses of the shooting.

“If you're a member of the community and you saw what happened,” family attorney Sanford Rubenstein said, “come forward and share that with the Attorney General's office. This family wants justice, and this family pleads for the community to come forward.”

They called for all three police officers to be fired, and they also called on New Rochelle Farms, the store where police accused Garris of taking food, to be closed down.

Ahead of the press conference, City of New Rochelle officials issued a statement on the shooting.

“We are fully committed to a transparent, thorough investigation, and will continue to work diligently with outside agencies in their independent review, while also addressing the legitimate concerns and questions that arise whenever a police officer is involved in a shooting," said the statement by Mayor Noam Bramson, City Manager Kathleen Gill, Police Commissioner Robert Gazzola and Councilmember Yadira Ramos-Herbert, the presumptive next mayor after June's Democratic primary.

Mental illness known in community, father says

Fowler said his son struggled with mental health, including schizophrenia, and had been contacted by New Rochelle police before for wellness checks.

“My thing is they knew who he was, and then they know me as well,” Fowler previously told USA TODAY Network New York. “There’s no justification.”

Garris grew up just minutes walking from the scene of the shooting, Fowler said. The area where police shot Garris was in the Lincoln Avenue corridor, a historic African American community in New Rochelle.

“As a community, we are determined to see a change, not just talk about it,” said the Rev. Wallace Noble, the lead minister at St. Catherine, the church just feet from where police shot Garris. “But even if we have to organize and do something ourselves, we want to see a change in the community. There has to be a better relationship between police and the community.”

In North Carolina, Garris had been working as a caregiver for a resident home, his girlfriend, Hadiyyah Harrell, 32, said in a text message.

"He was doing good," his sister, Tiana Fowler, who lived with him in Greensboro, said as she fought through tears. "He worked seven days a week, seven days a week and came home."

Garris — known in the neighborhood as CeeTwo, the same nickname his dad uses — has extended family and friends still living in New Rochelle.

‘He was one of the good guys’

After the press conference, people marched to New Rochelle Farms and held a rally in the street outside. They were both protesting the store, which called police, and police’s action.

At one point, several people went inside the store and knocked over produce displays. No arrests were made, New Rochelle Police said.

On Saturday, two days before the shooting, Garris knocked on the window of Ivin Harper's new black Cadillac Escalade to compliment him on his truck. Harper, 44, grew up with Garris' family and went to school with Garris.

Before their five-minute conversation, he hadn’t seen Garris since his move to North Carolina.

“He was one of the good guys,” he said.

On Monday, Robin Cowart, 59, saw Garris about an hour before the police shooting on Horton Avenue, just blocks away from the scene. He was alright, she said, laughing with old friends, before he left down toward Lincoln Avenue. Cowart has known his mother and father from the Heritage Homes, public housing formerly known as Hartley Homes that is located just around the corner from where police shot Garris.

Cowart later saw him on Lincoln Avenue, on the ground, not responsive, as emergency medical personnel tried to resuscitate him.

“He was a good dude, had a good heart,” said Cowart, who stood on the corner of Lincoln and North avenues, rallying with other community members. “I don’t know why they would do this.”

In front of New Rochelle Farms, Henderson Clarke, 46, led chants opposite police officers. New Rochelle police killed Clarke’s brother, Kamal Flowers, 24, on June 5, 2020, about a mile from where police shot Garris.

A New Rochelle police officer fatally shot Flowers after Flowers ran from police during a traffic stop. Police said Flowers pointed a gun at the officer before he was shot. The attorney general did not investigate the shooting, her office said then, because it did not fall under her jurisdiction. The attorney general's office can investigate cases in which an unarmed civilian is killed by police. Later that year, a grand jury voted not to indict Officer Alec McKenna.

Clarke disputed this account. He also questioned the account by police that Garris reached for a gun, citing the video.

“This happens, it’s the same thing,” he said. “The brother was eating fruit. He was hungry.”

During the protest, people distributed ice-cold water in the July heat.

This story has been updated.

The Journal News/lohud.com visual journalist Seth Harrison contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on New York State Team: Family of man shot by New Rochelle police calls for witnesses, video