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Cpl. Bruce McKay's Police Cruiser Shows Cop Being Shot by Liko Kenney
CONCORD – Videotape from slain Franconia Police Cpl. Bruce McKay's cruiser shows the officer walking up to Liko Kenney's car and quickly pepper-spraying Kenney and his passenger during a May 11 traffic stop.
Then McKay turns his back and calmly walks away.
Two seconds after being pepper-sprayed, Kenney, 24, points a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun out the car window and fires seven rapid shots at the retreating officer, now off camera.
Kenney then backs up his car and drives foward -- his tires spinning up grass and dirt -- and heads toward the road where witnesses said a wounded McKay -- clutching his side "" ran for cover.
Kenney pursued the officer up onto the lawn across the street, striking him once with the car, then backing up and hitting him again, pinning McKay 48, beneath the car's front quarter, state investigative files reveal. 
Moments later, passerby Gregory W. Floyd grabs the fallen officer's weapon and said he ordered Kenney to drop his gun, which appeared to be jammed, Floyd told investigators.
"Put it down or, you're gonna die," Floyd said he told Kenney, who ignored him and kept trying to work the weapon.
Floyd fired twice at Kenney, striking him in the head and neck, the state said.
He then ordered Kenney's passenger, Caleb A. Macaulay, out of the car and took Kenney's gun. Kenney's fatal shooting is also off camera.
The state Attorney General's office released the cruiser videotape, audio tape of police radio communications, and 902 pages of investigative files containing witness interviews, forensic tests, autopsy reports and other documents in response to Right-to-Know requests filed by the New Hampshire Union Leader and other media outlets.
The state also made public a 43-page report detailing its investigation into McKay and Kenney's deaths.
The state ruled Floyd was justified in using deadly force against Kenney and will not face criminal charges even though -- as a convicted felon -- he could potentially face charges for grabbing both McKay's and Kenney's weapons.
Under the state's competing harms statute, conduct that might otherwise constitute a crime is protected from prosecution if the actions were "urgently necessary to avoid a clear and imminent danger. Floyd's actions meet this standard," the state wrote.
Police confirmed Kenney had reloaded his pistol when Floyd ordered him to drop the gun, the state wrote.
Police found an empty clip on the driver's side floor of Kenney's car and the gun loaded with a new clip when they recovered it at the scene, the state wrote.
Those who are not law enforcement officers are justified in using deadly force if they reasonably believe another person is about to use unlawful deadly force against them or another and the cannot safely retreat from the situation, the state said.
The state ruled Floyd met this standard since he saw Kenney shoot McKay as he retreated, then continue to pursue McKay with his car.
"When Floyd attempted to help Cpl. McKay, Kenney was still at the wheel of his car and had showed no signs of abandoning his attempts to run down Floyd and/or Cpl. McKay," the state wrote.
The state also ruled Kenney, who did not have a license to carry a concealed weapon, was not justified in using deadly force -- his gun and car -- against McKay.
It also ruled that McKay's actions during the traffic stop on Route 116 constituted a reasonable use of non-deadly force by a law enforcement officer.
Kenney sped off after McKay pulled him over the first time for an expired registration.
McKay pursued Kenney in his cruiser, calling in the pursuit and asking for back-up, the investigative files show.
When McKay pulls in front of Kenney's car and stops it a second time, McKay backs up his cruiser in a three-point turn so it is facing Kenney's car, the video show.
Kenney then backs his car into a dirt yard and McKay follows in his cruiser. 
After Kenney's car lurches forward, McKay uses his cruiser to bump Kenney's car backward twice, the video show.
The state ruled these actions and McKay's pepper spraying Kenney were reasonable uses of non-deadly force by a police officer.
This is supported by Kenney's conduct during a 2003 traffic stop by McKay, the state said.
McKay suffered five gunshot wounds in the shooting, the autopsy reveals.
One was a superficial "through and through" wound to his right forearm.
He also had been shot four times in the right side.
McKay, whose feet were sticking out from beneath Kenney's car after Kenney ran him over, also suffered a fractured skull and left pelvis and lacerations to his scalp, face, groin and knee, the state files show.
He was still alive and breathing when police and others at the scene lifted the car off him.
Kenney's autopsy revealed he used marijuana shortly before his death.
A metal smoking pipe, what appeared to be marijuana seeds and a juice and a half-gallon of vodka also were found in his car.
It is not clear why McKay turned his back and walked away from Kenney's car after he pepper sprayed him, especially since McKay posted a warning to his fellow officers on April 25 stating Kenney recently was convicted of simple assault and was known to own a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun and a blow gun with steel shafted darts, the investigative files show.
Kenney was convicted in Littleton District Court on April 24 of assaulting a juvenile he suspected had stolen his Highpoint .45 caliber handgun from him in January, the files show.
Kenney choked the juvenile and threatened to break his legs if the matter wasn't resolved, the files show.
State police learned Kenney engaged in potential witness tampering before he went to trial on the assault charge, the files show.
Kenney tried to dissuade the juvenile from appearing at his trial telling him "if he had to go to jail for simple assault he would kill the male juvenile and his grandmother when he was released," the files show.
Matthew Chernicki, one of Kenney's close and longtime friends, said the April 24 simple assault conviction was a "turning point" in Kenney's life when Kenney "stopped trusting people and seemed to disassociate himself from others," the files show.
Chernicki described Kenney as both a loyal friend and a "sociopath" who "was going to snap." He said Kenney was unstable and needed mental health counseling.
A few weeks prior to the May 11 shootings, Kenney told Chris Fowler, a part-time Franconia police officer and attendant at the town's transfer station, that he was going to take things into his "own hands" and mentioned his dislike for the Franconia police, especially McKay, the files show.
The date and time shown on the video is inaccurate.
The time stamp is one hour ahead (the incident was at approximately 1900 hours or 7 p.m., not 1800 hours) and the date stamp is one day behind (the murder occured on May 11, 2007, not May 10.) |