ATTLEBORO - The lawyer for a North Attleboro man shot by police two weeks ago in a Mansfield hotel parking lot with an officer hanging from the suspect’s vehicle suggested during a court hearing Thursday that the police use of force was not justified.
“Who’s the danger here? He didn’t attack the police officer. The police officer attacked him,” Amit Singh, an Attleboro lawyer representing Kevin M. Burke, said during a dangerousness hearing in Atleboro District Court North TV's partners at The Sun Chronicle reported in Friday’s edition.
Burke, 40, of 265 Chestnut St., is accused of speeding away from police on Sept. 12 at the Red Roof Inn in Mansfield where North Attleboro police were trying to arrest him on outstanding warrants.
During the incident in the hotel parking lot, Burke allegedly sped off at a high rate of speed with North Attleboro Detective Lt. Ryan Mooney hanging half inside the driver’s side of the door, then reversed direction and back up before Detective Christiaan Grunewald fired a single round at close range at Burke, grazing his right arm, according to arguments during the hearing.
Singh argued that his client was a drug addict known to North Attleboro police and was only wanted on two shoplifting warrants and a warrant for fleeing from police a week earlier at Mount Hope Cemetary.
The defense lawyer argued Mooney could have freed himself from the car and that police should have allowed him to drive away from the hotel instead of shooting him.
“They know exactly where he lives,” Singh said, adding that it was on the same street at the North Attleboro police station.
Judge Michele Armour, who watched the police bodycam footage and a cellphone video from a witness ordered Burke held without bail after deeming him a dangerous person.
The case was continued to Nov. 7.
