Attorney General James’ Office of Special Investigation Releases Report on Death of Christopher Van Kleeck

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James’ Office of Special Investigation (OSI) today released its report on the death of Christopher Van Kleeck in Middletown, Orange County. Following a thorough investigation, including interviews with witnesses and review of physical evidence, photographs, dashboard camera footage, and civilian security camera footage, OSI concluded that criminal charges are not warranted for the officer involved in this case. 

Mr. Van Kleeck had a history of mental illness and was well known to the Town of Wallkill Police Department (TWPD). On prior occasions, his family members called police when Mr. Van Kleeck made threats or became violent, and there were instances when Mr. Van Kleeck became violent with TWPD officers.

On June 12, 2021, Mr. Van Kleeck’s mother called Orange County Crisis Call Center requesting help for Mr. Van Kleeck, who was behaving erratically. Mr. Van Kleeck grabbed the phone from his mother and told the operator not to send anyone and threatened to “take out” any police officers sent to the house. The operator contacted TWPD, and officers were dispatched to the house. The dispatcher warned over the radio that Mr. Van Kleeck had threatened to harm responding officers. At around 3:30 p.m., a TWPD officer, who had been present at two prior confrontations with Mr. Van Kleeck, responded to the call. As the officer pulled up to the house, he saw Mr. 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 Mr. Van Kleeck’s path, moving behind a parked trailer. Mr. Van Kleeck continued running directly towards the patrol car with the knives still in both hands. Mr. 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 Mr. 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 TWPD removed the knives from Mr. 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 Mr. 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.

In this case, the officer who shot Mr. 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, Mr. 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, 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.