The 19-year-old son of a former de Blasio administration aide was arrested on Monday for the fatal stabbing of a 16-year-old boy on a street in Edgewater, New Jersey. Khari Noerdlinger, the son of Rachel Noerdlinger, a publicist and the former chief of staff to the mayor’s wife Chirlane McCray, was charged with aggravated manslaughter, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and hindering apprehension. It appears the boy Noerdlinger allegedly stabbed may have been part of a group of five people who tried to rob him.
In addition to Noerdlinger, four others were arrested: a woman and three men, all from New York State. New Jersey police identified them as Mirleny Tremols, 33, of Nyack, N.Y.; and Calim Gaspard, 23; Richard Jean-Pierre, 18; and Kevensky Lubin, 18, all three from Spring Valley, N.Y. They were each charged with armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and held in lieu of $750,000 bail each. Noerdlinger was being held on $500,000 bail.
According to various reports, the group confronted Noerdlinger on a commercial strip of Edgewater on Sunday night. ABC 7 reports that the 16-year-old and four others "went to the retail area on Old River Road at about 10:30 p.m. with the intention of committing an armed robbery. When the five arrived, they confronted Noerdlinger and got into an argument." Officials told NJ.com and the NY Daily News that the group was trying to rob Noerdlinger, and he fought back, stabbing the 16-year-old in the leg and striking a femoral artery.
The teen, identified by Spring Valley police as 16-year-old Savion Lewallen, was admitted to an emergency room at a local hospital in critical condition and died shortly afterward. NJ.com reports that Lewallen had been released from Rockland County Jail on January 5th, "where he had been held since last year on charges related to allegations that he held a 15-year-old girl against her will and assaulted her."
Investigators say Noerdlinger and others tried to remove evidence from the scene of the stabbing. He was arrested at his home on Monday morning. His attorney, Jeffry Lichtman, told the News, "We're disappointed that he was charged with such a serious crime, and he was the victim of a crime, of armed robbery. He fought back, and for that he was rewarded with a manslaughter charge.”
Rachel Noerdlinger, a former spokesperson for Al Sharpton, resigned from her post in the de Blasio administration in November 2014, shortly after her son was arrested for criminal trespass and marijuana possession in Manhattan. She was also accused of lying on a city background check, possibly to hide that she was living with a boyfriend who had written provocative internet posts criticizing police back in 2011.
De Blasio and McCray issued this statement from Iowa, where the mayor was campaigning for Hillary Clinton: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family that has lost their son, and with everyone affected by this tragedy."
