Authorities say the man killed by Boston police after he allegedly tried to flee a traffic stop in a stolen car last week has been identified as Stephenson King, 39, of Dorchester.
The Suffolk District Attorney’s Office released his name in a news release containing few details about the police shooting, which left Stephenson dead. Officials said he accelerated and struck a Boston police cruiser in the moments before police shot him.
Stephenson is alleged to have committed a carjacking outside a pizza restaurant in Boston’s Mission Hill neighborhood around 9:45 p.m. March 11, according to police. The mother of a restaurant employee was waiting outside to pick her up — when a man approached her and demanded the vehicle, a manager told the Globe.
About 15 minutes later, officers stopped the stolen car less than a mile away at Linwood Square in Roxbury. According to BPD, The driver ignored “multiple verbal commands” as officers approached the car on foot, then tried to drive away, Police Commissioner Michael Cox said at the scene.
A man who lives in the area and witnessed the shooting said the situation escalated extremely quickly. The officer involved, Nicholas O’Malley, has since been charged with mansluahgter and the family has retained trial lawyer Ben Crump as well as called on the BPD to release bodycam footage of the incident.
This is a developing story.