Man killed by Boston Police in carjacking confrontation has history of resisting arrest

By Flint McColgan | flint.mccolgan@bostonherald.com

The carjacking suspect shot and killed by a Boston police officer earlier this month has a history of resisting arrest — a charge dropped under the policies of previous District Attorney Rachael Rollins.

Stephenson King, 39, of Dorchester, was shot and killed by a Boston police officer a little before 10 p.m. on March 11 in Roxbury.

Police say he did not comply with their demands and gunned his vehicle at officers as he attempted to flee, putting officers at risk and necessitating them to shoot him. The officers were placed on administrative leave as the shooting was investigated by the Suffolk District Attorney’s office.

The next week, prosecutors filed manslaughter charges against Boston Police Officer Nicholas O’Malley for King’s death. O’Malley, 33, pleaded not guilty in Roxbury District Court, where his arraignment was attended by some 50 fellow officers and the head of the police union.

Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association President Larry Calderone told the media outside the courthouse that, to his knowledge, it had been decades since a Boston Police officer was charged for an on-duty death, and that “We shouldn’t be standing here.”

Prosecutor Ian Polumbaum said in court that O’Malley’s interaction with King “didn’t warrant deadly force” as body camera footage showed he was attempting only to flee the scene and showed no indication he was gunning the vehicle at officers. Shooting a fleeing suspect is against Boston Police policy and against the law, he said.

Body camera footage has not been released for public view by request of both the prosecution and the defense — and despite the Boston City Council’s repeated attempts to have it released. For now, the story is told only in competing narratives.

Criminal history

What is public is King’s criminal history, which includes a 2019 case for a similar incident involving officers approaching his vehicle and him not complying with their stated commands. In this incident, he physically resisted his arrest, according to the police report.

On Oct. 21, 2019, a Massachusetts State Police trooper spotted a 2004 Hyundai Elantra registered to King, who at the time had three warrants for his arrest: one for possession with intent to distribute Class D and B drugs, along with firearms charges; another for assault and battery, destruction of property and violation of a protection from abuse order; and one more for threat to commit a crime.

The trooper, who was in the Beachmont area of Revere, called a Revere Police Department detective as he began his pursuit from an unmarked vehicle, according to the police report. That detective and another Revere officer joined in the pursuit in their own vehicles and the three attempted to pull King over, but he didn’t pull over immediately.

The trooper positioned his vehicle in front, blocking King’s forward movement and the Revere officers pulled in behind him, according to the report. King allegedly backed his vehicle at slow speed into the detective vehicle’s bumper. The police told King to stop his vehicle and get out, but King did not comply, the report states, so they moved in to physically extract him.

“King who was still smoking a cigarette was refusing to exit the vehicle and was holding onto the steering (wheel) with the other hand,” the report states. “King who is 6’ tall and weighing more than 200 lbs used his body size to prevent the officers from getting him out of the vehicle.”

The Revere detective pulled at King from the driver’s side, ripping King’s jersey shirt in the process, as the trooper pushed at him from the passenger side, the report states. King was extracted but “still struggling” with the police until they got him to the ground and he gave up, stating “that he was done fighting,” the report states.

Light touch

The incident came at the end of 2019 and was in the early stages of court hearings when the COVID-19 pandemic started changing everything.

Rescheduling orders due to the “State of Emergency surrounding the Covid-19 virus” began in the case in March 2020 and continued until Sept. 15, 2020, when prosecutors dropped the case.

Prosecutor John Blazo, working under the orders of then-DA Rachael Rollins, submitted a “nolle prosequi”  — a formal disposition meaning the charges were dropped.

Instead, prosecutors entered into an agreement that King apologize to the arresting officer and complete community service — though even that was negotiable in the era of COVID.

“The defendant wrote and submitted a letter of apology to the officer, but was unable to complete the community service hours due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the nol. pros. notice, dated Sept. 11, 2020, states. “Specifically, the defendant cares for his 80-year-old grandmother, who due to her age and health, is particularly vulnerable to the virus.

“In lieu of the community service, the defendant has provided a letter documenting the type of care and assistance he provides for his grandmother,” the notice concludes. “Accordingly, the Commonwealth is satisfied that the defendant has complied with the aforementioned conditions and, therefore, continued prosecution of this case would not serve the interests of justice.”

The Rollins tenure

Rollins’ tenure as DA from January 2019 to January 2022 was marked by her controversial “no prosecute” list, which featured 15 crime types ranging from shoplifting and trespassing to drug possession and resisting arrest — like King’s case — that her office would not prosecute.

Rollins was then nominated by the President Joe Biden’s administration to become U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts — a job she won by the narrowest of margins when Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to confirm her. She resigned in disgrace in May 2023 after two federal reports detailed allegations of significant ethical violations — findings partially spurred by Herald reporting.