City police have named the officer who fired his weapon last week at a car that was driving away after ignoring a roadblock.
Officer Richard J. McCarthy, a 25-year veteran and member of the accident investigation unit, is on administrative suspension as homicide detectives investigate the Friday afternoon shooting. The victim, a 56-year-old man, was injured when he crashed his pickup truck into a wall on Falls Road in Hampden after the officer fired at his back window.
Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said Friday that McCarthy had blocked the ramp to Interstate 83 at West 28th Street to allow a wide-load vehicle to go through. The pickup truck driver, who Bealefeld said has a minor criminal record but has not been identified by police, ignored the officer's commands not to drive around the roadblock, and the officer fired at the vehicle as it continued onto I-83.
Police say it is not clear why McCarthy decided to fire his weapon or whether he believed he was in danger. Homicide detectives, as a matter of policy, investigate all police-involved shootings.
McCarthy has no previous disciplinary record related to shootings, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. The police union has said it supports the officer as the investigation continues.
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