Body camera footage challenges Boston officer’s story in deadly carjacking incident

Boston Officer Charged with Manslaughter in Shooting Incident

A Boston police officer is now facing manslaughter charges after reports indicated he shot and killed a suspect involved in a carjacking last week.

Boston 25 revealed that Officer Nicholas O’Malley, 33, from Randolph, Massachusetts, was charged with manslaughter and appeared in Roxbury District Court for his arraignment on Thursday afternoon. During this session, his not guilty plea was entered, witnessed by a crowd of fellow officers filling the courtroom.

The judge allowed O’Malley to be released on his own recognizance, but with the stipulation that he surrender any firearms he possesses.

According to documents acquired by Boston 25, investigators found probable cause to believe that O’Malley committed voluntary manslaughter by intentionally shooting and killing 39-year-old Stevenson King without justifiable self-defense.

Authorities reported that police had responded to a carjacking incident on Tremont Street. The victim described how she was sitting in a moving vehicle when a man, identified later as King, assaulted her, forcibly removing her and driving off.

O’Malley, along with another officer, approached the stolen vehicle with weapons drawn. They aimed their firearms and commanded King to stop and unlock the door. While King occasionally raised his hand and partially opened the window, he did not fully comply with their orders.

Authorities mentioned that O’Malley warned King, saying, “Hey, I’m going to shoot you.” Following this, King backed the stolen vehicle into the police cruiser and appeared to try to escape by reversing. As the car moved forward again, O’Malley fired three shots through the driver’s side window, hitting King.

After being shot, King managed to flee a short distance before crashing into a stone wall. Officers retrieved him from the car and attempted to administer life-saving measures, but he was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly thereafter.

Pertinently, O’Malley later claimed that King “tried to run us over,” but body camera footage and witness accounts indicated that neither officer was in immediate danger at the moment of the shooting. O’Malley expressed a belief that his partner was in peril, but authorities deemed this belief as unreasonable.

Post-autopsy results revealed that King had been shot three times, with two bullets located in his torso and another in the passenger seat of the vehicle. No weapon was found on King or within the car.

Investigators cited a Massachusetts law that restricts officers from firing at moving vehicles unless it is essential to prevent imminent harm, requiring that any use of force be proportional to the threat presented.

A request for comment from Boston police, as well as for body camera footage, was not met with a response.

According to Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden, the footage will remain unreleased while the investigation continues, as reported by Boston 25.