Family of Stephenson King, man killed by Boston police officer, wants body camera video released

The family of Stephenson King, the man shot and killed by a Boston police officer last month in Roxbury, wants body camera video from the incident released.

King's family joined high-profile civil rights attorney Ben Crump at a news conference on Thursday to call for "real accountability" in the case. They said King had long dealt with mental health issues and showed signs of schizophrenia and paranoia. 

Shooting of Stephenson King

Investigators said Boston Police officer Nicholas O'Malley shot King three times through the driver's side window of an allegedly stolen car while he was trying to escape from police.

O'Malley said that he fired because he believed King was trying to run him and his partner over with the car.

A Boston Police Department report after the shooting determined that "regardless of their perception, that statement was factually not true." O'Malley was arrested and pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.

Police said there is body camera video of the shooting, but it's not being released yet. King's family and several city councilors have called for the release of the footage.

"We should be able to see it on the video"

Crump repeated that request Thursday.

"We want everybody to understand that transparency is good for everybody. If the officer did nothing wrong, then we should be able to see it on the video. If the officer did something wrong, we should be able to see it on the video," Crump said. "Consequently, if Stephenson did something wrong, we should be able to see it on the video. Because transparency is good for all of us. It's good for the family, and it's good for the Boston Police Department."

Crump said that King had been struggling with mental health challenges since 2009. According to the attorney, King had mental health crisis the day of his death and his family had an ambulance come to the house and take him to the hospital. Crump said King somehow got out of the hospital and went to another medical facility in the hours before the encounter with Boston Police.

"Mental health is a very real issue. I pray that if you have family members who have mental health issues, when they have encounters with police, they will give them a helping hand and not three bullets in their body taking them from this world," Crump said. 

Stephenson King Sr. spoke at the news conference and said he had been trying to get his son help, even recently asking a judge to intervene.

"He shouldn't be dead," King Sr. said. "I'm hurt, disappointed in everything that's happened. The day I put my son in an ambulance, I wasn't expecting him to be dead that night."

King's sister Ebony said that before his death, her brother was so paranoid that he would put tape over cellphone cameras, wall outlets, and the emblems on his sneakers because he believed he was being watched.

Boston police officer hires Karen Read attorney

On Thursday, defense attorney David Yannetti announced that his firm will be representing O'Malley. 

Yannetti called O'Malley "a good man who finds himself falsely accused of manslaughter because he performed his sworn duty and defended his fellow officers when confronted by a dangerous criminal with an established history of violence and felonies."

Yannetti was the first attorney to represent Karen Read during her high-profile Massachusetts murder trial. He remained a key member of her defense through both of her trials. After a mistrial due to a hung jury, Read was acquitted of all charges except operating under the influence during her retrial.