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An off-duty police officer was acquitted of shooting a teen driver. The cop testified he wanted to give the teen a 'fatherly chat' before opening fire.

Pawtucket Patrolman Daniel Dolan Jr. (left) with his attorney Michael J. Collucci at his arraignment at Kent County Superior Court in Warwick, R.I., on July 16, 2021.
Pawtucket Patrolman Daniel Dolan Jr. (left) with his attorney Michael J. Collucci at his arraignment at Kent County Superior Court in Warwick, R.I., on July 16, 2021.David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
  • A jury acquitted an off-duty police officer in the 2021 shooting a teenager in Rhode Island.

  • Daniel Dolan testified that he wanted to have a "fatherly chat" with victim Dominic Vincent.

  • He testified that he said shot Vincent in self-defense during the interaction.

A jury on Thursday acquitted a Pawtucket, Rhode Island, police officer in the June 2021 shooting of teenager Dominic Vincent outside a West Greenwich, Rhode Island, pizzeria.

The Providence Journal reported that during the trial at Kent County Superior Court in Warwick, Rhode Island, Daniel Dolan, 40, testified that while he was off-duty from his policing job in June 2021, he pursued then-18-year-old Vincent's car to a pizzeria because he was concerned about his driving.

Dolan, who said he shot Vincent in self-defense during the interaction, testified that he attempted to have a "fatherly chat" with Vincent about dangerous driving in the pizzeria parking lot before the shooting occurred.

As a middle-school resource officer, "that's what I do all day long," he testified in court during the trial, the Providence Journal reported. "I call them fatherly chats."

Surveillance footage from the incident reviewed by Boston.com showed a man approaching Vincent's car and showing a badge. The footage then shows Vincent's car reverse away, Boston.com reported.

Vincent testified in court that he did not know if Dolan was a real police officer or if his badge was real, Boston.com reported.

Dolan testified that as Vincent's car backed away, he shot the then-18-year-old in the upper arm through the vehicle's driver-side window in self-defense.

"At that moment I believed I was going to fall in front of the vehicle . . . and get dragged down the road," Dolan told the jury, the Providence Journal reported.

The jury cleared Dolan of three counts of felony assault and one count of discharge of a firearm when committing a crime of violence in connection to the shooting.

Vincent and his family stormed out of the courtroom minutes after the verdict was read.

"He's going to kill somebody," Vincent, now 20, told the Providence Journal. "It's just a matter of time. This isn't the only incident that he has."

In 2019, Dolan was accused of assault by a Pawtucket resident and accused of violating a Pawtucket couple's constitutional rights, the Providence Journal reported last year.

Dolan was suspended without pay from the Pawtucket Police Department as he faced charges in the shooting, WPRI reported.

When Insider contacted the Pawtucket Police Department for comment on Dolan's acquittal, an employee directed Insider to the city's mayor's office. The mayor's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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