Paperwork filed to fire cop who assaulted Uber driver
Police Commissioner William B. Evans plans to recommend firing the suspended Boston cop convicted of assaulting an Uber driver in Southie and taking off with his car.
Paperwork has been filed to terminate Michael C. Doherty, 43, in the wake of a guilty verdict on charges he assaulted Luis Blanco, the Uber driver ferrying Doherty from the North End to his South Boston home after a night out drinking with friends.
“The commissioner is going to recommend termination,” police spokewoman Maisha Miraj told the Herald. “Paperwork has been filed.”
Doherty was suspended without pay after he was indicted in April 2015 on assault charges stemming from the incident three months prior.
Miraj said the formal recommendation for Doherty to be fired will be made once the department concludes its internal investigation begun after the incident.
Doherty faces up to 2 1⁄2 years in state prison for the two counts of assault and battery and up to two years for taking off in Blanco’s car. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 17.
Doherty, the Boston Police Patrolmen Association and Doherty’s defense attorney Rosemary Scapicchio did not respond to requests for comment.
Jurors convicted Doherty on three counts of assault and battery after viewing surveillance video of the Jan. 4, 2015, dust-up and hearing testimony from Blanco and Guilliano Verna, 32, a second Uber driver who came upon the scene and picked up Blanco after Doherty took off with Blanco’s Toyota Prius.
Blanco recalled the snowy morning attack where Doherty allegedly told him, “‘You think I’m an idiot? I’m going to kill you, you (expletive) (racial slur)!’ He was punching me, he grabbed my ear. He was trying to grab my face from behind me.”
Doherty was acquitted of violating Verna’s civil rights as part of the melee.
Doherty had racked up five internal affairs investigations since 2012, including a domestic violence case in which he was found at fault.
Doherty was cleared by IA investigators in another allegation of domestic violence in 2014 and a use of force against a prisoner complaint in 2013.