BOSTON (WHDH) - The Boston police officer charged in the March shooting death of a 39-year-old Dorchester man appeared in Suffolk Superior Court Thursday, in a courtroom packed with supporters and family of both the officer and the man he is said to have unlawfully shot and killed.
Nicholas O’Malley, 34, was indicted by a grand jury on May 20 in the shooting death of carjacking suspect Stephenson King Jr. He previously pleaded not guilty to the charge in a lower court.
On March 11, Boston police responded to a report of a stolen vehicle on Linwood Square in Roxbury at approximately 10 p.m. Police said King carjacked a woman as she was picking up her daughter from school, punching her and forcing her out of her vehicle.
When officers arrived at the scene, King was sitting in the stolen car before he backed into an unoccupied police cruiser and started to drive away. O’Malley fired his police-issued gun, killing King. He said he fired because he believed another officer was in danger of being struck and killed by the car during King’s escape attempt.
“The Commonwealth’s contention to the manslaughter charge is that Mr. O’Malley was not acting in reasonable defense for either himself, the other officer, or the general public, and that the shooting was excessive,” said Assistant District Attorney Iam Polumbaum.
O’Malley’s Defense Attorney David Yannetti, who also represented Karen Read, argues King’s actions that night were violent and dangerous.
“The fact that he [King] ignored lawful order after lawful order, and made the decision to slam that stolen vehicle into a police cruiser, with two police officers warning him that he needed to stop, but he wouldn’t,” Yannetti said.
Prosecutors argued O’Malley was not justified in using deadly force, and his claim that officers were in immediate danger is contradicted by police body camera video.
King’s family said the 39-year-old was struggling with mental health issues, but was not a violent person. The family is being represented by notable civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is calling for the body camera video to be released.
Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association President Larry Calderone said they believe O’Malley was forced to make a split-second decision.
“Nick O’Malley did his job that night with his partner,” Calderone said. “They attempted to de-escalate, they gave numerous verbal commands, they were not complied with.”
O’Malley has been off the job since the incident, and was released on personal recognizance. He is due back in court for a pretrial hearing in July.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)