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

By
Louisa Moller
Louisa Moller
Louisa Moller is a general assignment reporter for WBZ-TV.
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Louisa Moller,
Matt Schooley
Digital Producer, CBS Boston
Matt Schooley is a digital producer at CBS Boston. He has been a member of the WBZ news team for the last decade.
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Matt Schooley

/ CBS Boston

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.

"If the commissioner wanted to sit with the family tomorrow. He could sit with the family and allow the family to see this video," Boston city councilor Miniard Culpepper said.

Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said the video would be handled by Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden. Hayden explained that at the moment he is "concerned about the legal process and the integrity of our grand jury process."

stephenson-king.jpg
Stephenson King. Family photo

"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 when his mother passed away. According to King's family, he received mental health services and medication while incarcerated, but his medication was discontinued when he was released. He was hospitalized the day of his death, but for a different medical issue. 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.

"But the system knew he had mental health [issues] and what they did is they kept bringing him right back into the system and not helping him, treating him for his actual mental health issues," Ebony said.

Boston police officer hires Karen Read attorney

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

bpd.jpg
Boston Police Officer Nicholas O'Malley at his arraignment in Roxbury Municipal Court on March 19, 2026. Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

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. 

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