The family of Stephenson King Jr., a Dorchester man who was shot and killed by a Boston police officer on a Roxbury street last month, has retained a high-profile civil rights attorney whose previous clients include the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
“Stephenson King Jr. should be alive today. His family is now forced to carry the pain of a loss that should never have happened,” attorney Ben Crump said in a statement Monday. “His family deserves the full truth, real accountability, and justice that is not delayed or denied. We will not stop fighting until they get it.”
King, 39, was shot and killed by Officer Nicholas O’Malley, 33, March 11 after King allegedly carjacked someone and tried to evade capture by driving away in the stolen vehicle when officers approached the car.
O’Malley’s attorney said O’Malley feared for another officer’s life while King maneuvered the vehicle and fired three shots at King during the encounter. But Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum said body camera footage and the testimony of an eyewitness showed that “Mr. King was trying to drive away” when O’Malley fired the shots.
“Neither officer was in the path of the car or being in danger of being struck by it at the time,” Polumbaum said.
O’Malley was arraigned and charged with manslaughter March 19. He pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognisance.
City councilors and members of the public have called for the release of body camera footage from the incident. O’Malley’s defense attorney and Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden both said last month that they were not planning to release the footage.
In a press release, Crump’s office acknowledged “heightened calls for transparency, including demands for the release of body camera footage.”
“Reporting on the criminal case indicates prosecutors concluded there was probable cause to charge Officer O’Malley and that he was not acting in proper self-defense or defense of another,” the statement from Crump’s office reads.
After O’Malley’s arraignment, Hayden told reporters that his office planned to pursue an indictment in Suffolk Superior Court. As of Wednesday, though, court records show O’Malley has not been indicted.
A representative for Hayden on Wednesday said he had no comment on Crump’s retention.
In 2021, Crump’s office secured a $27 million pre-trial settlement from the city of Minneapolis and four officers involved in the death of George Floyd in a civil rights wrongful death case. It was then the largest pre-trial civil rights wrongful death settlement in U.S. history.
In 2020, Crump’s office secured a felony grand jury indictment of one of the officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor, a Louisville woman who was shot by officers executing a no-knock warrant.
A representative for Crump said Wednesday that there will be a news conference this week.
“We are currently working through logistics for the upcoming news conference,” the representative said.