[Source via Boston Globe By Sean Cotter and Travis Andersen ]
A day after four State Police instructors were indicted in the 2024 death of a recruit, they were suspended with pay and their certifications to work as police officers have been suspended.
The State Police said Tuesday evening that Lieutenant Jennifer Penton and troopers Edwin Rodriguez, David Montanez, and Casey LaMonte were relieved of duty, which means they’re on administrative leave with pay pending the department’s disciplinary process.
They face arraignment for charges including involuntary manslaughter in the death of trainee Enrique Delgado-Garcia. Special prosecutor David E. Meier revealed the charges Monday after an investigation that lasted a year and five months.
According to Meier, the four instructors at the famously rigorous paramilitary-style academy knew the 25-year-old recruit had shown symptoms of a concussion on that Sept. 11, but they allowed him to fight again the following morning. This “wanton and reckless act,” as Meier called it, led to Delgado-Garcia collapsing after taking more punches to the head. He died the next day.
Penton, a supervisor, was also indicted on a perjury charge for allegedly lying to the grand jury about when she learned of the original symptoms.
In the statement, the agency wrote that none of the four have been subject to agency discipline before.
Penton became a trooper in 2016, LaMonte in 2020, and Rodriguez and Montanez in 2021, according to the agency. Rodriguez and Montanez were still working at the academy when they were placed on leave. Penton and LaMonte were both transferred last summer, according to documents obtained by The Boston Globe; Penton was transferred twice, ultimately landing at the Revere barracks, according to the State Police.
The employment status of each will be meted out following duty status hearings that are yet to be scheduled. After those, each will either be retained on full duty, placed on restricted duty, suspended with pay, or suspended without pay.
Also on Tuesday, the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, which licenses police officers,has suspended the certifications of the four instructors, records show.
All law enforcement personnel in Massachusetts must have an active certification to work; the suspended employees can request hearings before the commission, which will ultimately make a final decision on whether to revoke their licenses.
A suspension is a common step after an officer is charged criminally.
At a news conferenceMonday, Meier said he was not divulging many of the specifics of what happened on Sept. 11 and 12, 2024, due to the pending case. But he said the negligence of the instructors, who were responsible for keeping recruits safe, contributed to Delgado-Garcia’s death.
Craig J. MacLellan, a lawyer representing LaMonte, defended his client as “an honorable, hard-working professional who is a credit to the Massachusetts State Police.”
“Trooper Delgado-Garcia’s death is tragic and it should be approached with solemnity, but it does not demand that we jump to conclusions or presume criminality,” MacLellan said in a statement.
Lawyers for the other three instructors either declined to comment or could not be reached for comment on Monday.
Meier said Delgado-Garcia was not targeted and his death was not the result of maliceby instructors or trainees. Rather, he died after the instructors failed to act as they should, the prosecutor said.
On that Sept. 11, Delgado-Garcia suffered “concussion-like symptoms” in “unauthorized, unapproved, and unsupervised boxing-related sparring exercises” that occurred during academy training, Meier said.
The following morning, Delgado-Garcia was back sparring against another recruit when he suffered further multiple blunt-force head injuries, which led to massive brain bleeding, Meier said. He collapsed and died the following day, just a few weeks before completing the rigorous academy,
He was sworn in as a trooper on his deathbed.
Meier didn’t elaborate on the role of the individual troopers. A roster for Sept. 12, obtained by the Globe through a records request, shows all four working that day.
Penton is listed as the administrative sergeant. The roster notes that LaMonte, who is listed as “deck monitor,” and Rodriguez worked more than 18.5 hours that day.
Brian Williams, head of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said the union continues to mourn the death of Delgado-Garcia, but the “veteran training staff indicted today” are entitled to the presumption of innocence.
The union “stands firmly behind its members and intends to vigorously defend them against these charges,” he said in a statement.