The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday, Feb. 1, that a former Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officer has been indicted on multiple charges after he allegedly abused a 63-year-old Black man in Boston last April, then filed a misleading report about the incident.
Ex-MBTA Officer Nicholas Morrissey, 41, was indicted on a civil rights violation and charged with assault and battery, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon (the pavement), and filing a false report that contradicted video evidence of the encounter. He was indicted by a grand jury last week. He is expected to be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on March 5.
Transit police were called after the victim, an intoxicated homeless man, refused to exit the bus at Forest Hills MBTA on April 28, 2020. Prosecutor’s said Morrissey dragged the man off the bus, pinned him face-down against the pavement for 20 seconds with a knee in his back, then pushed his head down and dragged him out of the bus lane.
The man required medical attention for abrasions he suffered to his face. A second officer on the scene noticed the man was bleeding from the forehead.
“In many cases, some individuals who regularly encounter police do so as the result of mental illness, substance use disorder, food and housing insecurity, or homelessness — all factors that make them more vulnerable and in greater need of assistance,” District Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement. “Every time an individual comes in contact with a member of law enforcement is a potential opportunity to provide assistance or access to services. Instead, Officer Morrissey is accused of physically assaulting the victim and using his position of trust and authority to actively cover up his criminal actions.”
In Morrissey’s report of the incident, he claimed the victim lost his balance while trying to spit on him. The former officer said he grabbed the man’s shoulders to try to redirect him, but that he ended up falling through the bus door and hit his head on the pavement. Security footage and witness statements conflict with Morrissey’s account.
Per department policy, a use-of-force report should have been filed, but when a transit police superintendent grew concerned after hearing the radio transmission call from the incident and looked for the report, none was found.
Morrissey resigned from the position before disciplinary action took place.
District Attorney Rollins said the second officer “exhibited the type and quality of care for the public that is expected and required from members of law enforcement,” when he saw the man bleeding and, unware of what had happened, talked to him to try to de-escalate the situation.
