Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Weymouth Cops Cleared

What else is new?

"Weymouth police justified in use of deadly force, DA says" by John R. Ellement Globe Staff  May 11, 2015

Two Weymouth police officers were justified in using deadly force in January when they shot and killed a Weymouth man who had murdered his mother and then leapt over her corpse to attack first responders, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey concluded Monday.

In a seven-page letter to the Weymouth police chief, Morrissey ruled that Officers Sean Murphy and Edward O’Brien resorted to deadly force only after Paul J. Campbell ignored repeated orders to drop the kitchen knife he was holding and instead tried to stab the officers.

Morrissey also concluded that Campbell, 49, stabbed his mother in the back as she was trying to escape. When police arrived, they saw the body of Patricia Campbell lying in the front entryway of her home at 69 Prospect Hill Drive. She was 72 years old.

Morrissey said police arrived at the Campbell home after a person believed to be Paul Campbell made repeated calls to 911 on Jan. 19 at 1:04 a.m. in which he reported a stabbing and then became increasingly incoherent. Police told an ambulance crew to stay back while they went to the house.

At that point, Morrissey said, Campbell “ran down the front stairs, jumped over the female body, and headed toward the officers, with a large brown-handled knife in his hand.” He first tried to stab O’Brien, who backed off but then shot twice as Campbell continued to attack, the prosecutor said.

Campbell did not appear to have been hit by the gunfire and continued acting aggressively with the knife still in his hand when he launched an attack on Murphy, the report said. At that point, both Murphy and O’Brien fired at Campbell again, the prosecutor said.

He fell to the ground. The officers, along with the ambulance crew, began providing medical care. But Campbell was later pronounced dead at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth.

Campbell died from multiple gunshot wounds, and his mother was killed by knife blows to her neck and back, Morrissey said.

Morrissey said the police account was supported by civilian witnesses who saw or heard portions of the incident, 911 recordings, and the results of autopsies of the mother and son.

“I conclude that the actions taken by Officer Murphy and Officer O’Brien were justified under the circumstances in which Paul Campbell repeatedly attempted to attack them with a knife,” Morrissey wrote in the statement. “I further find that the officers rendered immediate medical assistance and called emergency personnel in an attempt to save Paul Campbell’s life, without success.”

Campbell had a history of arrests for drug possession, drunken driving, and assaulting police, the Globe has reported. He had a child with Lorrie Higgins, Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s longtime girlfriend, 23 years ago and had small parts in some movies through his friendship with Mark Wahlberg, the actor and producer.

Not even that could save him.

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He was a white man?

Also see:

Boston police agree to release names of arrested officers

Boston paid $36m to settle police lawsuits

One night I will never forget.

SJC gives new trial to man convicted in double murder

Judge sets bail for man granted retrial in officer’s killing

Police search for car that fled scene after fatal crash in Saugus

Canton man charged with threatening Boston officer with gun

Boston police officers, neighbors team up to find runaway dog

Former Mob boss, 87, finishes prison term

Three men wounded after Saturday shooting in Lynn

Asthmatic’s death forges new legal ground

Didn't breath a Globe that day.

"Boston officer, civilian injured during pursuit of suspect; Man captured, handgun recovered" by Evan Allen and Travis Andersen Globe Staff  May 13, 2015

A Boston police officer and a civilian were injured Wednesday when a man in a white Mercedes-Benz, later allegedly identified as Khamal McCalop, 32, authorities believe to be a career criminal sped through Roxbury, hit a car, and caused a car accident, before crashing on a Dorchester side street. There, police captured him and recovered a handgun, officials said.

******

Police in the neighborhood spotted the Mercedes and began following the car when McCalop allegedly drove off, officials said. He made his way into Dorchester, hitting a car at the intersection of Blue Hill Avenue and Esmond Street and causing a car accident at Bernard and Nightingale Streets, according to police and witnesses.

McCalop then allegedly drove onto Harvard Street and crashed after taking a sharp right onto Millet Street against one-way traffic and slamming into a parked blue sedan.

Drunk?

The owner of the sedan, who declined to give her name for fear of retribution, said she watched from her house as the Mercedes slammed her car back a full car-length. The black unmarked police vehicle chasing it, she said, hit the back of the Mercedes, which crashed into a minivan on the other side of the street.

McCalop leapt out of his driver’s-side window, the woman said, and she watched him run with his gun in his hand toward her home. He jumped over her fence, she said, and ran through her backyard. She rushed to another window to watch, and then saw him lying on the grass, surrounded by officers with their guns drawn.

Police said McCalop allegedly threw what appeared to be a semiautomatic gun on the roof of the woman’s home. They recovered the weapon.

McCalop, of Dorchester, was charged with motor vehicle and weapons offenses, and he was also charged with being an armed career criminal and unlawful possession of a firearm, second offense, police said.

McCalop was ordered held on $50,000 bail during his arraignment Wednesday in Roxbury District Court, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. A not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf, and his bail was revoked in a pending drug case. His lawyer could not be reached.

According to federal court records, McCalop was sentenced in 2003 to 37 months in prison for selling crack, and he had “a serious prior incarceration” for gun possession.

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NDU:

Commissioner notes progress by police at city budget meeting

Source of shots linked to fatal asthma attack disputed

No ShotSpotter or whatever they have there?