Above: Attorney Ben Crump (center) speaking at the Grant A.M.E. church on Thursday. Crump is representing the family of Stephenson King Jr., a Dorchester man who was fatally shot by a Boston police officer last month. Credit: Truman Dickerson
By Truman Dickerson, Special to the Reporter
A high-profile civil rights attorney representing Stephenson King Jr.’s family said Thursday that King was in the midst of a mental health crisis when Boston police fatally shot him and that body camera footage from his shooting should be released.
“If the officer did nothing wrong, then we should be able to see it on the video,” said attorney Ben Crump, adding that “we believe that video will reveal very disturbing actions.”
King, a 39-year-old Dorchester man, was fatally shot by Officer Nicholas O’Malley March 11 after King stole a woman’s vehicle and parked it on a street in Roxbury. O’Malley fired three shots as King was maneuvering the car, believing, according to his defense attorney, that King was about to strike another officer on scene.
O’Malley was arraigned on a manslaughter charge March 19. He pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance. An assistant district attorney said body cam footage showed King was trying to drive away when O’Malley fired the shots and that neither officer was in danger of being struck.
King’s family painted a picture of a man with serious, unaddressed mental health issues who was loved by his family and failed by the state’s mental health system. His father, Stephenson King Sr., said King had been to two hospitals the day of the shooting but was discharged from each.
“His father took him to the hospital, and he somehow got released, and he went to another facility and exhibited paranoia symptoms even there, and then he left,” Crump said. “He took a car and then he parked it. None of it makes any sense.”
Though members of King’s family met with Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office Thursday morning, Crump said he and the family have yet to see body camera footage of the incident.
Asked directly if he would sue the Boston Police Department to gain access to the body cam video, Crump deferred, saying “we intend to explore every possible legal remedy available to the family to get justice.”
Boston City Councilor Miniard Culpepper, whose district includes the area where King was shot, said he asked the council to file a summons for the video Wednesday, but it was objected to.
“The video will show us the truth about what actually happened,” Culpepper said. “When we ask to see a body cam video, it should be readily available.”
Culpepper said he would again ask the council to file a summons next week. He said he believes Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox is within his rights to independently release the video, despite the ongoing investigation by Hayden’s office.
Members of King’s family, who took turns speaking at the pulpit of Grant African Methodist Episcopal Church, teared up at points as they described a loved one who was crippled by delusions.
“He still loved his nieces and nephews, his brothers and sisters. He still came to every function that we had,” said King’s sister, Ebony King Gibson.
King “was one of the kindest, most generous young men,” said Tina Petigny, the fiance of King’s father.
Petigny said she would often see King speaking to people who weren’t actually there. King’s father said King had recently been putting pieces of paper into electrical sockets, believing that people were watching him.
King’s father, a retired Massachusetts corrections officer, said he wants to see the video of the shooting.
“I want to see his face when it really happened,” he said. “Knowing my son, he would’ve been home. He would’ve been home.”
This story is part of a partnership between the Dorchester Reporter and the Boston University Department of Journalism.