Local pols demand body camera video from police shooting

U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, members of the Boston City Council and members of the family of Stephenson King are calling for the release of police body camera footage that captured the moments when Boston police officer Nicholas O’Malley opened fire on King as he tried to flee from officers after he allegedly stole a car, killing him.

But Boston police officials say the decision to release the footage rests with the office of Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden, who has refused to do so.

“Unfortunately, the investigation that brings us here today is a death investigation,” said BPD general counsel Dave Fredette during a Council hearing last Tuesday. “In Boston, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office is the one that drives that investigation.”

District 7 Councilor Miniard Culpepper, on the other hand, said the city’s body camera ordinance leaves the discretion of whether to release the footage up to Boston’s police commissioner.

Culpepper noted that then-Commissioner Willie Gross allowed him and other community members to view body camera footage of the 2015 fatal police shooting of Angelo West. Fredette said that, because the O’Malley shooting was going before a grand jury, releasing the video evidence could prejudice jurors.

The push for the release of body camera footage is driven in part by O’Malley’s assertion, which was echoed by his lawyer, that he was in fear for his partner’s life. The City Council, as a body that creates policies such as the city’s body camera ordinance should have access to information about how the police are operating, Culpepper said in an interview Monday.

“It’s important to see how the police handled this,” he said.

Arguing for an immediate release of the body camera footage, District 4 Councilor Brian Worrell said the systems currently in place to monitor police misconduct, such as the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, often move too slowly to ensure that justice is served.

“As the process currently stands, OPAT and other oversight bodies are brought in inevitably too late into the game,” she said. “We have seen other cities across the country establish clear timelines that help promote transparency and public accountability.”

In any case, O’Malley’s assertion that he was in fear for his partner’s life does not justify shooting an unarmed suspect attempting to flee, under the Boston Police Department’s regulations and state law, both of which impose limits on use of force against unarmed, fleeing suspects.

Attorney Ben Crump, hired by the King family, said Stephenson was suffering from mental illness at the time of the shooting.

“Just because you’re having a mental health crisis doesn’t mean you should be sentenced to death, and that police officer on the side of the that street was the judge, the jury and the executioner,” he told reporters last Thursday.

Hayden has charged O’Malley with manslaughter in the killing, which, under Massachusetts law, means killing a person without premeditation. In the moments before O’Malley opened fire on King, he said “Bro, I’m going to f---ing shoot you,” according to Hayden — an utterance that could suggest premeditation.

While BPD general counsel Fredette continued to argue last Tuesday that releasing the body camera footage could prejudice a jury, councilors picked away at his argument.

“In every situation in which a grand jury is impounded, is body-worn camera footage withheld,” asked at-large Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune.

“Ideally, yes,” Fredette responded.

“Do you know that for a fact?”

“No.”

Culpepper on Monday expressed doubt that releasing the body camera footage would prejudice a grand jury.

“The jurors see all kinds of case-related material, whether it’s social media posts or television,” he said. “If you accept the premise that any time any material is released to the public it prejudices a jury, we could never have jury trials.”