- Police Brutality Watch

NAACP says Bert Bowen Investigation Based on Incomplete Information

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced yesterday that investigators have concluded that the two Boston police officers who fatally shot a Roxbury man this summer were justified in their use of force and said that additional inquiries made at the request of the man's family only strengthened that conclusion. Last month, Conley's office released a summary of the five-month investigation, which concluded that the officers should not be criminally charged in the death of Bert W. Bowen, but postponed releasing the full report after family members and community leaders raised concerns. The June 27 shooting angered some community activists because Bowen, 40, was shot three times while fleeing after a traffic stop, and because some witnesses said he was unarmed. The investigation concluded that Bowen was carrying a loaded handgun and that when the officers fired at Bowen they legitimately feared that he would kill one of them or a bystander. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives also traced the semiautomatic handgun to Mississippi and determined it was stolen. Conley said the agency and Boston Police are investigating how the gun reached Boston. Investigators also allowed a medical examiner retained by Bowen's family to review the state medical examiner's findings, which concluded the fatal shot traveled from right to left before striking his head and did not enter from the back as had been rumored. [more]