BOSTON, Aug. 31, 2017—Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley today released his entire investigative file on the Oct. 30, 2016, police-involved shooting death of Terrence Coleman inside a narrow South End foyer after he wielded a kitchen knife during an attack on emergency medical personnel and then on police officers who ran inside to aid them.

The file includes more than 200 photographs; over an hour and a half of dispatch transmissions, including an urgent call for help by one of the EMTs; a dozen recorded interviews, including a post-Miranda interview with the officer who discharged his firearm; and more than 400 pages of reports, transcripts, and forensic testing results documenting the exhaustive investigation overseen by Assistant District Attorney David Deakin, Senior Counsel to the District Attorney. Conley provided a copy of the file to Coleman’s family through their attorneys and additional copies to the news media. 

The evidence and the law do not support criminal charges against Officer Garrett Boyle, who discharged his service weapon only after Coleman attempted to stab and slash EMTs and as he attacked police officers using a kitchen knife with a five-inch, serrated blade inside the foyer of 245 Shawmut Ave. The EMTs were already under attack and in imminent, life-threatening danger when Boyle and his partner entered the premises. Under those circumstances, Conley said, the officer’s use of deadly force was a lawful exercise of self-defense and defense of others.

“In reaching these findings, I am keenly aware of the tremendous loss suffered by Mr. Coleman’s family members, particularly his mother, whose attempt to seek help for her son ended in his death during an armed confrontation with police,” Conley wrote in an eight-page report summarizing his findings.

Following his meeting with Coleman’s family, Conley met with clergy, civil rights advocates, and community leaders to discuss the facts and governing law and to reaffirm his commitment to independence and transparency in the investigation of fatal police encounters within Suffolk County.  About a dozen representatives of the NAACP, Urban League, Bethel AME Church, Greater Love Tabernacle, Dorchester Youth Collaborative, Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation, and other groups attended and received detailed and candid responses to all of their questions.

Coleman was mentally ill. At about 12:30 am, after contacting his therapist and Tufts Medical Center with concerns over his state of mind, his mother called 911 from a car outside their home to request an ambulance and have him evaluated. In accordance with dispatch protocols, Boston Police were directed to the scene along with Boston Emergency Medical Services personnel.

Boyle and Officer Kevin Finn arrived at the scene a few minutes later, followed shortly by Emergency Medical Technicians Kyle MacKinnon and Terry Mentelle. After speaking with Coleman’s mother, who believed he would not respond well to seeing police, they agreed that the EMTs would enter the home and speak to Coleman while the officers waited outside.

At about this time, the investigation revealed, someone up the street began shouting for police and the group determined that the officers would investigate while the EMTs went inside. MacKinnon and Mentelle found Coleman seated on the floor of his room. Mentelle attempted without success to engage him in conversation. Eventually, Coleman picked up an opaque plastic bag, stood up, and left the room followed by his mother and the EMTs. Because Coleman had the right to refuse treatment, neither MacKinnon nor Mentelle attempted to stop or restrain him.

Just outside the apartment in the building’s small foyer, Coleman suddenly became extremely agitated and began speaking urgently, disjointedly, and loudly. He reached into the plastic bag he had been carrying, and MacKinnon – who was in the foyer along with Mentelle and Coleman’s mother – stepped closer to see what was inside. As he did so, Coleman pulled out a kitchen knife with his right hand, shoved MacKinnon to the ground, and began stabbing at him.

On the ground with his back to the wall, MacKinnon kicked up at Coleman to avoid being stabbed. Mentelle keyed his radio and screamed for help. He attempted to pull Coleman away from MacKinnon from behind. MacKinnon was able to get his feet against Coleman’s chest and kick forcefully, sending both Coleman and Mentelle backwards. Mentelle landed on his back on a stairway leading to the second floor with Coleman also on his back on top of him.

By this time, Boyle and Finn had returned from the unrelated call for help up the street and heard the shouting and struggle inside 245 Shawmut Ave. They rushed inside and attempted to restrain Coleman. MacKinnon, Mentelle, and Coleman’s mother left the foyer at this time.

As the three men struggled, Finn spotted the knife in Coleman’s hand and told him to “drop it.” Boyle, who at first did not see the knife, instructed Coleman to “give me your hands” with the intention of handcuffing him. Coleman ignored both commands and instead stabbed and slashed at the officers during a violent struggle inside the foyer

Boyle released Coleman while Finn struggled with Coleman’s right arm, which held the knife. Coleman continued to attempt to stab and slash at him. Finn began to sense that he was losing control of Coleman’s arm and Boyle told him to get clear. Finn pushed off of Coleman and Boyle fired two shots, striking Coleman in the area of his abdomen.

Finn began to administer first aid after using his foot to push the knife a safe distance away. MacKinnon and Mentelle re-entered the foyer seconds later and took over first aid efforts. A short time later, another ambulance arrived and its staff took charge of Coleman’s care, transporting him to Tufts Medical Center, where he died of his injuries.

The knife was recovered just inside the apartment doorway next to plastic wrapping from medical equipment used by EMTs during their lifesaving efforts. Criminalists identified a fingerprint matching Coleman’s right index finger at the base of the blade.

As the Supreme Judicial Court wrote in 2015, “a police officer has an obligation to protect his fellow officers and the public at large that goes beyond that of an ordinary citizen, such that retreat or escape is not a viable option for an on-duty police officer faced with a potential threat of violence.” Given the actual threat of violence against emergency medical technicians and responding officers in this case, as well as the speed at which it escalated without any warning and the deadly threat that an armed assailant posed in the close quarters of the building’s foyer, Conley said, the use of deadly force was lawful and criminal charges would not be appropriate. Suffolk prosecutors have similarly declined to charge four civilians who used deadly force in self-defense over the past five years.

Conley noted that the circumstances surrounding this case – and similar cases across the country – reflect the need for ongoing collaboration among a broad spectrum of agencies and professionals that interact with and care for the mentally ill to develop pre-crisis strategies that can reduce the likelihood of such a tragic outcome occurring again.

“Insurers, hospitals, mental health facilities, individual care providers, public health and public safety agencies, and the community at large all have an interest in safe, effective treatment for people living with mental illness and adequate support for their families and caregivers,” Conley said.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.