Findings released in non-fatal officer involved shooting in Chelmsford
Statement from Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan:
“The Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office, the Massachusetts State Police Detectives assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, and the Chelmsford Police with assistance from Tyngsborough Police have completed the investigation into the facts and circumstances of the non-fatal shooting of Michael Clark, 27, of Tyngsborough on July 16, 2016.
This investigation concludes that, in the totality of the circumstances, the officer was justified in the use of deadly force and that there was no criminal conduct involved in the shooting of Michael Clark.”
Background:
The focus of this investigation was to determine whether the actions of the Tyngsborough Police officer in the shooting of Michael Clark were criminal or whether, in the totality of the circumstances, the officer was justified in the use of deadly force.
On Saturday July 16, 2016, at approximately 7:51 p.m. a gray Buick LeSabre was reported stolen from the Lowell General Hospital parking lot. The suspect, Michael Clark allegedly drove that vehicle to Nashua, New Hampshire and made several fraudulent purchases with the vehicle owner’s credit cards.
At approximately 8:36 p.m. Clark was observed operating that vehicle with a broken headlight, by uniformed Tyngsborough Police Officer Dennis Leach. Officer Leach, who was operating a marked police cruiser, turned his cruiser around and began following the vehicle. At that time he observed the vehicle being operated by Clark crossing marked lanes. The officer attempted to stop the vehicle but Clark refused to stop. The officer continued to follow Clark onto Route 3 southbound and into the town of Chelmsford. Clark did not stop for Officer Leach.
Once in Chelmsford, uniformed Chelmsford Police Sergeant Stephen Fredericksobserved the Clark vehicle being followed by the Tyngsborough marked police cruiser and the uniformed sergeant in a marked Chelmsford police vehicle got between the Clark vehicle and the Tyngsborough cruiser and attempted to stop Clark. Clark did not stop and continued to lead the Chelmsford and Tyngsborough marked police cruisers up and down through various residential and commercial areas of Chelmsford without stopping until he arrived at the parking lot of Sully’s Ice Cream Stand on GranitevilleRoad in Chelmsford. There, Clark pulled into the parking lot but became boxed in by the Chelmsford sergeant, the Tyngsborough officer and another Chelmsford officer who arrived from the other direction.
When a Chelmsford sergeant approached the vehicle the suspect backed up dragging the officer several yards. Fearing for the safety of the Chelmsford officer, a Tyngsborough officer fired his service weapon striking the suspect.
Clark sustained gunshot wounds and was med-flighted to Boston Medical Center.
The Chelmsford officer sustained non-life threatening injuries and was transported to Lowell General Hospital and was later released.
The investigation included interviews of all responding police officers and civilian witnesses; examination of ballistic evidence found at the scene; review of radio transmissions and police reports; and the findings contained in medical records.
The audio of the radio transmissions is available at the links below:
The full report can be viewed below.
