The Boston nonprofit Lawyers for Civil Rights has filed a lawsuit demanding for the release of the body camera footage involving the fatal shooting of an unarmed Black man by a white Boston police officer earlier this year.
Stephenson King was shot and killed in March after a suspected carjacking. Boston Police Officer Nicholas O’Malley was charged with manslaughter in the shooting, which happened in Roxbury.
Since the shooting, the Suffolk County district attorney’s office has not shared the body camera footage. Nor has the Boston Police Department.
The lawsuit from the Lawyers for Civil Rights, naming both the district attorney’s office and BPD, states that “few governmental records implicate a greater public interest than body-worn camera footage documenting the fatal use of force by law enforcement officers.
“Disclosure of such records enables meaningful public oversight of policing, promotes confidence in the integrity of governmental institutions, and ensures accountability when law enforcement exercises its most extraordinary power: taking a human life,” the lawsuit continues.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden has the final say in death investigation cases. He initially called the shooting “unjustified” but said that video wouldn’t be released prior to trial.
When contacted for comment, the District Attorney’s office referred GBH News to a second motion for a protective order for body camera footage submitted in July.
The motion argues against the release of the footage to “protect the integrity of the expected trail and reduce potential prejudice to both O’Malley and the Commonwealth.”
Victoria Miranda, senior attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights, says this investigatory exception isn’t applicable when it comes to the release of body camera footage.
“Body camera footage is not a police report. It’s not private investigatory materials. They’re not made out of the view of the public,” Miranda told GBH News. “It seems to us that some of the things that they cited was being used more as a stall tactic to not release the footage rather than legitimate lawful excuses.”
Miranda said Lawyers for Civil Rights first made its formal request for the body camera footage in June, which was denied. She also said there hasn’t been any direct conversation with the police department or the district attorney’s office.
In its motion for a protective order for the body camera footage, the district attorney’s office noted the media attention this case has garnered and acknowledged that potential “public outcry” could take place if the video is released.
“When a police officer kills somebody and kills a Black man in the street, public outcry is necessary,” Miranda said. “Public outcry might be exactly what’s needed for the public and the community to feel safe or to feel heard or for there to be an acceptance of transparency.”
But that public response should have no effect on the case itself, Miranda said, citing rules of evidence that are allowed during a legal case.
Aside from the release of the footage, Miranda said the ultimate goal for filing the lawsuit is to set a precedent.
“It’s our goal to make sure that the police and that our public servants are accountable to our community,” she said. “It’s not necessarily just to stir the pot or to create a problem, but to make sure that the community has transparency and that the public servants are serving the community in the best way they can and according to the law.”
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who previously led legal teams for the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, is representing King’s family.
In May, O’Malley was indicted and arraigned on manslaughter charges. Just last month, a judge ordered that the body camera footage be sealed until trial. Spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said the trial is expected to begin next May.
