Lawyers for Civil Rights is suing the Boston Police Department and the Suffolk County district attorney’s office for withholding police footage that allegedly shows an officer fatally shoot a Dorchester man.
The nonprofit group said its lawyers have repeatedly attempted and failed to obtain body camera and dashboard camera footage that allegedly shows Officer Nicholas O’Malley’s lethal exchange with Stephenson King Jr. in March.
O’Malley is facing manslaughter charges, and Boston police have suspended him from the force. He and his defense lawyers claim he pulled the trigger, because he saw King, who was suspected of a late-night carjacking, attempt to drive away.
Victoria Miranda, a senior attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights, said she’s filed numerous public records requests for the footage. For months, the King family and several Boston city councilors also have demanded its release.
“Especially in scenarios like this, transparency is key,” Miranda said. “When we know as people of the community that an officer has shot and killed one of our own, we want to know what happened. We deserve to know what happened.”
Both the department and district attorney’s office declined to comment on the pending litigation. They’ve previously argued the footage is part of a confidential investigation.
“ That’s not a justifiable reason to deny the public access to that body camera footage,” Miranda said. She said the law allows for some valid exemptions, including when a document reveals “secret witnesses.”
But, she noted, body camera footage, captured in a public place with public witnesses, should not be construed as an internal document.
Last month, a Superior Court judge agreed with requests from O’Malley’s attorneys and the prosecution to seal the footage ahead of his trial.
“We don’t want to have a bunch of people having been exposed to all sorts of important evidence that would then mean they could not serve as jurors,” Judge Joshua Wall told the courtroom at O’Malley’s most recent pre-trial hearing.
Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who represented George Floyd’s family and is now representing the King family, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Boston City Councilors Brian Worrell and Miniard Culpepper recently proposed an ordinance outlining new processes and timelines for the release of body and dashboard camera recordings.
“Transparency is a building block of public safety,” Worrell said. “In the absence of a policy, this is what you’ll see.”
This segment aired on August 4, 2026. The audio for this segment is not available.
