Further Inquiry Sought in Police Shooting of Teen

Doesn't look so justified, groups say

Four civil rights organizations today released a statement on the shooting of Malcolm Gracia, a teenager fatally shot by New Bedford police officers on May 17, 2012. The four organizations are the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, the New England Area Conference NAACP, the New Bedford Branch of NAACP and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice. The statement takes issue with the findings and conclusions in the report of the investigation issued by Bristol County District Attorney Samuel Sutter. Calling the District Attorney's investigation inadequate and leaving many questions unanswered, they have sent a letter to Attorney General Martha Coakley, requesting a judicial inquest into Gracia's death. The organizations also called for a separate investigation by the Civil Rights Division into whether New Bedford police officers are lawfully implementing the Department's "meet-and-greet" program in their encounters with minority youth and a review of the firearms training received by police officers.