Alleged hit-run driver leads wild chase through Boston; suspect is killed

By John M. Guilfoil, Mike Bello, and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

ROCKLAND -- An alleged hit-and-run driver led Boston police and State Police on a wild chase down the Southeast Expressway into the South Shore this morning before being shot and killed by police on a highway exit ramp, authorities said.

Police said the final confrontation happened after the suspect, Mark McMullen, 44, of Boston‘s South End, left the highway at the Route 228 exit in Rockland and then tried to get back on, driving the wrong way and striking at least one police cruiser.

Two Boston police officers and a State Police trooper were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. A Rockland police officer was also injured in a spinout on the way to the scene, but officials said that officer’s injuries were not serious.

The chase began when a woman got out of McMullen’s car in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood near the corner of Blue Hill Avenue and Dewey Street, and McMullen hit her with the car, said Boston police spokesman Elaine Driscoll. Driscoll said the woman was not seriously injured and she was not hospitalized.

McMullen was shot in the chest after a chase that reached speeds of more than 80 miles per hour, officials said. He died after being taken to South Shore Hospital.

Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said his department will investigate the use of deadly force in the incident by police and whether or not the chase, which stretched for more than 20 miles, should have gone on so long.

“This was a very dangerous event that had to be dealt with,” said Plymouth District Attorney Tim Cruz.

The names of the victim and the police officers involved were not released.

The wreckage of a Boston police cruiser that appeared to have collided head-on with a maroon Hyundai could be seen on the ramp leading down to the Home Depot store this morning. The windows were missing from the back of the Hyundai.

Dozens of police, including officers from the State Police, Boston police, Hingham police, and Rockland police, were on the ramp, as well as firefighters and tow trucks.

It was the second police shooting in as many days in Massachusetts. A suspect in an attempted jewelry store heist in Woburn was shot on Tuesday. A veteran police officer was also wounded in that shootout.

Did you witness the crash? If so, please contact correspondent Amanda Cedrone (acedrone@globe.com with your story.

David L. Ryan of the Globe staff contributed to this report.