A judge has cleared a Lexington police officer who fatally shot a suspect who charged another officer with a knife during a confrontation nearly two years ago, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan’s office.
Judge Michael Brennan conducted an inquest into the death of Brendan Reilly on Feb. 12, 2022, outside a group home at 98 Hancock St., where Reilly lived, the district attorney’s office said Saturday.
The property is owned by Eliot Community Human Services Inc., a nonprofit provider of behavioral health and other programs, according to Lexington property records.
A jogger passing by the residence called 911 at the request of a resident, who said from a window that another man was trying to kill him, prosecutors said.
Police arrived shortly after 12:30 p.m. to find Reilly outside the home, brandishing a knife, which he failed to drop at the officers’ command, Ryan’s office said in a statement.
“When Reilly failed to comply with officers’ commands, began threatening to kill officers while armed with a knife (at times swinging the knife in their direction), and ran into Hancock Street, he presented” a serious threat, Brennan wrote. “A reasonable police officer would believe that their own safety as well as the safety of any member of the public who might be nearby was at risk.”
Officer Joseph Carruthers “fully complied with the use of force policy” when he shot Reilly, who was pronounced dead at a local hospital, according to the statement.
Ryan accepted the court’s findings and filed a certificate in the Superior Court, closing the matter, her office said.
“The Reilly family remains in our thoughts as they continue to mourn Brendan,” Ryan said in a statement.
Bailey Allen can be reached at bailey.allen@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @baileyaallen.