BOSTON (WHDH) - A closed-door meeting was held Wednesday between Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden and several city leaders to discuss the manslaughter case against a Boston police officer charged in the March shooting death of a 39-year-old Dorchester man.
Nicholas O’Malley, 34, was indicted by a grand jury on May 20 in the shooting death of carjacking suspect Stephenson King Jr. O’Malley is expected to be arraigned at Suffolk Superior Court at a later date.
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 when officers arrived, King was sitting in a 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 Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office claims that police body camera video of the incident shows O’Malley’s actions were not justified. That body camera video has become a polarizing piece of evidence in the case, with several city leaders and community members calling for it to be released to the public.
On the day of the indictment, King’s family met with prosecutors and were shown the body camera video of the encounter for the first time. Despite calls from community leaders to release it, the District Attorney’s Office has not done so.
Hayden said the video has not been made public yet “…because of legal constraints and wanting to making sure the legal process and integrity of the process continues to be maintained.”
Boston City Councilor Miniard Culpepper, who called for the release of the video, said he now understands why they cannot happen yet.
“You know I’ve been tough on this body camera, I’ve been tough on everybody about the body cam,” Miniard said. “We came out today, working on it together, working together so that we can have a policy that everyone understands, that’s clear, and that we can anticipate in the future.”
Community leaders who attended Wednesday’s meeting said they walked away feeling satisfied that justice will be served.
“We want a fair trial for officer O’Malley, we want justice and a fair trial for the community, and we definitely want justice and a fair trial for the King family,” said Dr. Ray Hammond, Paster at the Bethel A.M.E Church.
Leaders said the meeting created a path for futher discussion about policies for releasing police body camera videos in similar situations. One city councilor told 7NEWS that the District Attorney’s Office operates with an unwritten policy, and it seemed that the general consensus among the group at the meeting was that it should be codified into a written policy.
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