Officers Cleared Of Wrongdoing In Fatal 2013 Dorchester Shootout
BOSTON (CBS) – Two police officers who killed a suspect during a 2013 Dorchester shootout will not face criminal charges.
Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley announced on Tuesday that Boston police officer Ryan Lenane and Sgt. Thomas Teahan shot and killed Darryl Dookhran only after the 20-year-old Dookhran shot Lenane in the arm on Dec. 7, 2013.
"Under the circumstances, Sergeant Teahan and Officer Lenane acted reasonably and lawfully when they discharged their service weapons," Conley wrote in a four-page letter to Boston Police Commissioner William Evans.
"Therefore, based on a thorough investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding Mr. Dookhran's death, I conclude that there is no evidence of criminal conduct by the officers involved."
Dookhran's family released a statement on Tuesday, expressing concerns with the way Conley's office and the Boston Police Department handled the investigation.
Specifically, the family said it learned of Dookhran's death from television reports instead of being notified by police.
In addition, the statement accuses Conley's office of failing to provide information about Dookhran's death until more than a year after the incident.
"The family was anxious to learn about the circumstances of their loved one's death, but the police and DA would not provide them with any information until today, over a year after the incident. Video footage of the incident was available to the investigators quickly; the family should not have had to wait a year to view it."
Dookhran had a long criminal history prior to the incident that led to his death. In 2011, he was arrested and charged with bringing a loaded gun to Mass Bay Community College in Wellesley, where he was going to school at the time.
Police also said Dookhran was kicked out of two high schools for gang-related violence.
The fatal shootout began when Teahan, Lenane and another officer were dispatched to search for a firearm that police believed had been discarded in the area after a shooting the night before.
According to Conley, the officers attempted to speak with Dookhran, but he ran and the shootout ensued.
"The facts establish that Officers Lenane and Traft and Sergeant Teahan, in the lawful discharge of their duties, found themselves confronted by an armed gunman who had shot Officer Lenane without provocation and continued to fire as he fled down a thickly settled residential street," Conley wrote to Evans.
Another man, Christopher Murrain, 27, previously pleaded guilty to assault and battery on a police officer and was sentenced to prison time for shoulder-checking Lenane to block the pursuit.
