Mass law enforcement misconduct news, Apr. 13-19

As readers of this newsletter know, I won a public records lawsuit against Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan’s office in December. A Superior Court judge ruled that it was unlawful for Sullivan’s office to black out the names and case numbers of police officers who had been charged with crimes from records I requested four years earlier, in January 2022. The information was contained in Brady disclosures about alleged police misconduct that prosecutors are required to turn over to defendants in criminal cases.

On Thursday, the Daily Hampshire Gazette published a story about the lawsuit—and a spokesperson for Sullivan denied that his office delayed releasing the unredacted records using some, let’s say, interesting logic:

“Any claim that the NWDAO delayed this process is unfounded,” spokesperson Melissa Sippel wrote in an email to the Gazette. “Mr. Quemere amended his complaint several times, and each time the NWDAO filed its response within 30 days.”

“While it is true that most court proceedings take quite some time to resolve, the NWDAO did not cause or contribute to any unnecessary or unusual delay in this case,” she added.

So the spokesperson is saying that the district attorney’s office didn’t delay the release of information because lawsuits always take a lot of time... Except I only had to file a lawsuit because the district attorney’s office broke the law and refused to release the unredacted records in the first place. Remember, it lost the case. If the district attorney’s office believes that outcome was in error, it could have appealed the judge’s ruling—but it chose not to do so.

The spokesperson notes that I amended my complaint. But I did that because of new public comments Sullivan made about my lawsuit and because the district attorney’s office agreed to release some unredacted records in response to a ruling in an unrelated lawsuit. In both cases, I amended my complaint in response to things outside my control.

After I won the lawsuit, the district attorney’s office waited two-and-a-half-months to release the remaining unredacted Brady records to me. And even then, the district attorney’s office only released the police misconduct records it had in January 2022. It waited another two-and-a-half weeks to release its up-to-date disclosures.

The judge ordered the district attorney’s office to pay my legal fees, but I offered to waive the more than $12,000 if prosecutors would adopt a policy of posting the Brady records online so that people could access them without having to make a request. The district’s attorney’s office declined to even discuss such a settlement.

Records show the district attorney’s office spent more than $22,000 on private legal counsel to fight my lawsuit—bringing the total cost of the litigation to more than $34,000 of public money.

Northwestern DA’s office spent $12,000 to avoid adopting police transparency policy

DA David Sullivan rejected settlement that would’ve saved taxpayers $12,000 in legal fees if he published police misconduct records online

The Mass DumpAndrew Quemere

Does it really sound like the district attorney’s office wasn’t trying to delay the release of these records?

Here are some of my comments to the Daily Hampshire Gazette:

Asked if he was satisfied with the results of his lawsuit, Quemere said, “yes and no.” He said the case has raised concerns of the Northwestern DA’s transparency, noting that Sullivan’s office “wasted” taxpayer dollars to fight the lawsuit.

He said other law enforcement districts, such as the Middlesex County district attorney’s office, post Brady letters online.

Quemere said that several police officers’ names were redacted when he originally received the Brady letters, even though those same names had been released by Sullivan’s office in previous press releases [which you can read more about here]. This is a significant contradiction, Quemere says, because Sullivan’s office argued in court that it was illegal for them to disclose the information Quemere requested, but had already done so previously.

“These lawsuits are not one and done things,” Quemere said. “Law enforcement will always come up with new excuses to not release information.”

Law-enforcement misconduct news

State and local law enforcement

The latest on the State Police cover-up

• “MSP Homicide Detective Sgt. Scott Quigley pleaded not guilty in Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn to a charge of felony motor vehicle homicide [on April 15]. The arraignment comes amid questions over how the Massachusetts State Police handled the December 2023 crash investigation and whether the agency shielded one of its own from accountability.” (Boston 25 News)

• “State Police Sgt. Scott Quigley had his license suspended before being indicted or arraigned on a motor vehicle homicide charge in connection to a 2023 fatal cruiser crash.” (Boston Herald)
• “After a Middlesex Superior Court judge granted them bail and a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court reversed it, three Lowell brothers charged in a 2020 murder are asking the full court to step in. … The brief also underscores how central State Police Sgt. Scott Quigley … was to the original murder investigation. … The defense states Quigley also participated in lengthy interviews with [a witness] — who received immunity for his testimony — during which, the defense notes, [Quigley] took no notes, wrote no reports, and made no audio or video recordings, in violation of State Police policy.” (Lowell Sun)
• “A Massachusetts State Police lieutenant [Anthony Delucia] implicated in the late disclosure of [Quigley]’s role in a fatal crash in December 2023 retired from his position [on April 13] amid an investigation into his conduct. … He was dishonorably discharged from the State Police because his retirement came while he was the subject of an ongoing investigation, a State Police spokesperson confirmed.” (MassLive)
• “Colleagues knew that Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Scott Quigley shared six drinks with a fellow detective before crashing head-on into a van, leading to a man’s death, prosecutors say.” (Boston Herald)

Kelsey Fitzsimmons case

• “A lawyer for former North Andover police officer Kelsey Fitzsimmons indicated plans to bring numerous claims against the town in connection with what he dubbed ‘an ongoing course of negligent, reckless and intentional misconduct by Town officials,’ according to a letter sent to the town.”(MassLive)
• “The deputy chief of the North Andover Police Department will lead the force with its chief [Charles Gray] on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an independent investigation, the town manager announced [April 17]. … [Gray] asked for an investigation into allegations made by the North Andover Patrol Officers and Sergeants Unions about his leadership and why they took no confidence votes in him on April 2.” (Eagle-Tribune)

More misconduct allegations

• “Former Massachusetts State Police trooper Michael Proctor is asking a judge to allow him access to evidence from Norfolk County prosecutors and Canton Police related to the Karen Read case so he can ‘refresh his memory’ ahead of a deposition in June.” (MassLive)
• “A Massachusetts State Police trooper previously accused of assaulting a child in his care had his bail revoked [on April 13] after allegedly violating a restraining order in the case by accessing security cameras at the home of his ex. Michael Gagnon appeared in Plymouth District Court on charges of unlawful wiretap and violation of abuse prevention order.” (NBC10 Boston) “The investigation began in March 2026 when Gagnon’s estranged wife reported a drone hovering over her home while her brother was assisting her children off a school bus.” (Boston 25 News)

• “Matthew Farwell’s bid to be released on bail ahead of his trial in October will go before a judge [on April 28]. A former Stoughton police officer, Farwell is accused of sexually abusing Sandra Birchmore beginning when she was 15, then killing her years later to prevent her from revealing his crimes.” (MassLive)
• “A police officer at Quinsigamond Community College was temporarily banned from law enforcement in Massachusetts on [April 13], after being arraigned [the previous] week on domestic violence charges in connection with an incident in December. Tyler Goodney is charged with one count of felony strangulation or suffocation and one count of misdemeanor assault and battery.” (MassLive)
• “MSP Lt. Jennifer Penton faced a judge [on April 14], arraigned on perjury charges, pleading not guilty. Prosecutors allege Penton made false statements about the death of Enrique Delgado Garcia, a state police recruit who died after a boxing exercise as part of training in September 2024.” (Boston 25 News)

• “After enduring what he believes was workplace abuse, East Longmeadow Police Officer Alex Serra has filed a $1.2 million legal claim against the town and his colleagues. … The claim filed in U.S. District Court alleges that Serra was harassed by his peers and supervisors for sounding an alarm about two officers who were erroneously getting extra pay for educational degrees they had not earned.” (Republican)
• “A retired Boston police sergeant [Paul Downey] accused of raping a minor he met online can travel to neighboring states while the case is pending, and he no longer has to report monthly to probation in person, a judge ruled [on April 16].” (Boston Globe; paywalled)
• “The Massachusetts Division of Public Records is ordering the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office to explain why police body camera footage [showing Boston police officer Nicholas O’Malley shooting and killing Stephenson King] cannot be released … In a rare move, … O’Malley was charged with manslaughter in the shooting death.” (WCVB)

• “An auditor for the Department of Justice says it is ‘not possible’ for the state’s prison system to meet a December deadline in a settlement agreement between the two agencies. Since 2022, the Department of Correction has been under active monitoring by the DOJ for how it treats prisoners in mental health crises. A settlement agreement was reached by the two entities after the DOC denied any wrongdoing but still agreed to reform its mental health practices.” (MassLive)

Federal law enforcement

• “Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts graduate student arrested by immigration officials last year, has returned home to her native Turkey. Her case gained national attention after video surfaced of masked agents arresting her on a Somerville street in March 2025. … Öztürk’s return to Turkey ends any further [immigration] proceedings, the ACLU said. The agreement [with the Trump administration] also acknowledges that Öztürk was in lawful status the whole time she was in the United States.” (WBUR)

Other News

Pittsfield DA says police killing was legal but criticizes officers (WAMC)

At a press conference in his Pittsfield office [on April 14], DA Timothy Shugrue said the police killing of 27-year-old Biagio Kauvil, who was experiencing a mental health crisis when he was shot in the head on Jan. 7, was lawful. Shugrue said that after examining evidence, … he has concluded Hinsdale Police Officer Jeremy Spratt acted in self-defense in the frenzied struggle that followed law enforcement breeching [sic] a locked door to confront Kauvil, who was holding a legal firearm at the time. …

Shugrue noted a number of specific issues he had with how the Hinsdale PD handled the situation, saying he found their takedown method of Kauvil to be inappropriate.

Gov. Healey seeks to block public disclosure of uncertified copies of vital records (Boston Globe; paywalled)

Governor Maura Healey is seeking to restrict access to Massachusetts birth records, death certificates, and marriage notices under a proposal that would shield less costly versions of some records from public view for nearly a century. …

Those uncertified copies of the records would only become publicly available 90 years after a person is born or married, and 50 years after a person’s death, according to the proposal.

Social media age-requirement bill would harm privacy, free speech (Boston Globe; paywall)

Healey’s bill proposes limiting teens to two hours a day across all social media platforms and restricting certain addictive features. Separately, the Massachusetts House earlier in April passed a bill that would ban social media companies from allowing anyone under age 14 to create accounts on their platforms and require parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds. …

Civil liberties groups and organizations in favor of tech privacy — including some that are backing the bills — warn the proposals could backfire and make online activity even less private by requiring users to submit personal information to verify their ages or parental status.

Some restrictions, experts argue, would also face First Amendment challenges by limiting young people’s speech and vulnerable groups’ abilities to find community online.

“Bee lady” convicted of using bees to assault deputies during eviction (MassLive)

It’s been a stinging journey through the courts for Rebecca “Rorie” Woods, a former beekeeper who’s become a cause célèbre in the local housing advocacy world, but a thorn in the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department side.

After a five-day trial in Springfield District Court and three hours of jury deliberations, Woods was found guilty of six misdemeanor charges in connection with siccing hundreds of bees on officials during a 2022 eviction in Longmeadow. …

She was sentenced … to six months in county jail.

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