Prosecutors have cleared a Braintree police officer of wrongdoing in the fatal March shooting of a man who refused to drop a knife despite efforts by police to disarm him using nonlethal force, the Norfolk district attorney’s office said.
District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey announced his findings Wednesday in the shooting of Robert L. Dussourd, 44, who had been the subject of a domestic violence call that led to the confrontation with police.
Neither Officer William Cushing Jr., who shot Dussourd twice as he approached with a knife, nor his fellow officers will face charges, according to Morrissey’s office.
A phone number listed for Dussourd’s family was out of service Wednesday night, and additional numbers could not be obtained.
“These officers used the force reasonably necessary to protect themselves from the threat of death or serious bodily harm,’’ Morrissey wrote to Police Chief Russell W. Jenkins.
One round hit Dussourd in the right side of the chest, puncturing both lungs and two chambers of his heart, the report said. Another hit him in the back, traveling through his liver and other organs. The medical examiner was not able to determine which was first.
According to the report, no civilian witnesses were outside to see the shooting, though some heard parts of the conversation — including the officers’ orders to drop the knife and Dussourd’s threats.
Morrissey said in an interview that the accounts of civilian witnesses were crucial.
“Civilians play a very important part in these investigations,’’ he said, contrasting the case to others in which only the officer and the person killed are present. “That’s the most difficult. Because it’s ‘he said, she said,’ and there’s only one side being told.’’
Though there were partial fingerprints on the knife found at the scene, Morrissey’s report said, “they lacked sufficient ridge detail for comparison.’’
Police could not immediately be reached for comment.
The investigation played out amid an ongoing debate over police use of lethal force.
The case was also cited in a recent Boston Globe Spotlight report about mental health as one of at least four apparent suicide-by-cop attempts reported in and around Boston this year.
Morrissey’s report said Cushing, an experienced K-9 officer, had done what he could to avoid firing at Dussourd, who had threatened to kill officers and came within two to three feet of Cushing while swinging a knife in a “windmill motion.’’
Police were called to Liberty Street just before 1:30 a.m. March 24 for a domestic disturbance. The caller has two children with Dussourd, and they lived together, the report said.
Cushing used a dog to help find Dussourd under a car near 80 East Division St., the report said. Dussourd got up and attempted to remove something from his pocket or waistline, Morrissey said, and Cushing deployed the dog, who bit the suspect in the right hip and buttocks.
Dussourd refused to get on the ground, however, and pulled out a knife, the report said. After he refused to drop the weapon, Morrissey reported, another officer “took the next progression in use of force to attempt to have Dussourd comply and fired three non-lethal rounds from [a] beanbag gun.’’
Those rounds were not effective, the report said, and Cushing resorted to his service weapon when Dussourd closed in on him with the knife.
Dussourd staggered, then crumpled to the ground. He dropped the knife when another officer pulled him to “a more open area,’’ where officials began first aid. The report said Dussourd had a blood alcohol level that showed he was inebriated at the time.
In a conclusion to his report, Morrissey wrote that Dussourd had said as police were being called, “They’re not taking me. . . . They can shoot me before they take me.’’
“It is reasonable to conclude that Mr. Dussourd was serious in his comments,’’ Morrissey wrote.
Travis Andersen of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Andy Rosen can be reached at andrew.rosen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @andyrosen.
