BOSTON, April 2, 2018—A Suffolk Superior Court jury today returned verdicts convicting an off-duty police officer of a racially-motivated assault on a ride-share driver and briefly driving away in that man’s vehicle after a second driver intervened on his behalf, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

Jurors convicted MICHAEL COLIN DOHERTY, 43, of two counts of assault and battery for striking a 28-year-old Revere man working as an Uber driver in the early morning hours of Jan. 4, 2015. Jurors also convicted Doherty, who was an off-duty Boston Police officer at the time, of assault and battery for purposes of intimidation, reflecting his use of racial and ethnic slurs during the confrontation, and use of a motor vehicle without authority for entering and driving several blocks in the victim’s vehicle. Jurors acquitted Doherty of violating the civil rights of a second man who intervened in the conflict on the victim’s behalf.

“The defendant’s conduct that night was reprehensible,” Conley said. “His words and actions have no place in civilized society. They represented a crime against the victims, who were doing nothing more than trying to work for a living, and they were a slap in the face to countless police officers who work hard every day to earn the community’s trust with honor and professionalism. Racially-motivated violence by anyone, sworn or civilian, will be investigated and prosecuted, and no one should ever be afraid to report it.”

During three days of trial, Suffolk prosecutors assigned to the DA’s Special Prosecutions Unit introduced evidence and testimony proving that Doherty took an Uber car from Charlestown to South Boston, where he told the driver they were in the wrong location and used a racial epithet in the verbal exchange that followed. The evidence proved that Doherty struck the victim, who exited the vehicle to escape the assault; Doherty then exited and chased him around the vehicle.

As the victim flagged down a passing car driven by another Uber driver, Doherty entered the victim’s 2005 Toyota Prius and drove away, prosecutors said. The victim entered the second Uber car and the two men followed Doherty until he stopped and exited the vehicle at East 1st Street and Farragut Road. There, Doherty continued to use racial and ethnic slurs in a second physical confrontation.

Doherty then left the scene. Massport Police arrived on scene seconds later and searched the area but were unable to locate the defendant, who later surrendered to Boston Police. He was arraigned the next day in South Boston Municipal Court and indicted three months later after prosecutors put the case to the Suffolk County Grand Jury.

Assistant District Attorney Andrew Doherty of the DA’s Special Prosecutions Unit tried the case. Assistant District Attorney Christina Miller, the DA’s Chief of District Courts and Community Prosecutions, led the grand jury investigation. The defendant was represented by attorney Rosemary Scappichio. He faces sentencing on April 17.

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