Mass law enforcement misconduct news, May 18-24

Here are the media reports of alleged law enforcement misconduct in Massachusetts that I’ve tracked during the last week. 

State and local

• After a dispute with his neighbor, Alejandro Orrego Agudelo was arrested by Boston police officer Lorenzo Hooker III, which eventually “landed the 27-year-old Colombian in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody for the next four months. … But new body camera footage obtained by WBUR from Boston police casts doubt on the officer’s narrative, suggesting it was the officer who escalated a tense situation into a violent one. Policing experts who reviewed the video say Orrego should not have been arrested in the first place. And if not for that arrest, Orrego likely would have never ended up in ICE custody.” (WBUR) By “casts doubt on the officer’s narrative,” WBUR means the officer blatantly lied. Remember: All cops are ICE.
• “A grand jury has indicted the Boston police officer [Nicholas O’Malley] who shot and killed a carjacking suspect in Roxbury earlier this year — a case that has bitterly divided local law enforcement and public officials.” (Boston.com)
• “The Massachusetts State Police Academy has postponed its next training class as it implements dozens of changes from an independent review commissioned following the death of a recruit two years ago. Enrique Delgado-Garcia, 25, of Worcester, died in September 2024 after he was knocked unconscious during a defensive tactics exercise. Four troopers, including an academy supervisor and three instructors, have been charged with involuntary manslaughter as a result.” (WPRI)
• Related: Louis P. Aloise, the attorney representing Delgado-Garcia’s family, “believes the [boxing] program was actually a recruiting tool for the state police boxing team,” not a legitimate training program. (Telegram & Gazette)
• “25 Investigates found evidence of recorded disciplinary actions in fewer than half of the confirmed domestic violence cases involving [police] officers across [Massachusetts]. … At least 120 police officers in 67 agencies around Massachusetts, including four from universities, have been involved in domestic violence since 1996, with more than three-quarters of cases reported after 2020, according to a Boston 25 analysis of state disciplinary filings, news reports and other public records.” (Boston 25 News)

Federal

• “One of more than a dozen Massachusetts immigration judges terminated under the Trump administration is suing to get his job back. George Pappas, who was let go in July after serving less than two years at the courts in Chelmsford and Boston, alleges the Department of Justice discriminated against him because of his prior legal work defending immigrants. The lawsuit, filed [on May 14] in federal court in Boston, also argues that Pappas faced discrimination because of his Greek national origin and his age. Pappas is 68.” (WBUR)
• “A Worcester man who is accused of collecting more than $47,000 in pandemic unemployment benefits while working full-time as a TSA security officer has been sentenced in federal court, according to the U.S Attorney’s Office. Ismael Rosado Jr., 40, was sentenced in Boston to three years of probation and was ordered to pay $47,526 in restitution.” (Patch)
• “On [May 18], the U.S. Coast Guard initially approached Rogerio da Silva Lima and his 15-year-old son Nycolas de Al Varenga Lima for a routine safety check. They returned to fishing, but then the Coast Guard returned, asked for documentation and detained the two, as first reported by the Vineyard Gazette. … [Their lawyer] filed a lawsuit … to keep them from being transferred out of Massachusetts, arguing that the detentions are unlawful and a violation of their constitutional rights. (GBH)
• “A judge [on May 21] ordered immediate freedom for an immigrant who’d filed a request for release just the previous day - after ICE failed to provide any justification for holding him, not even so much as an arrest warrant.” (Universal Hub)

“In a monumental shift in policy, the federal government plans to bar noncitizens from changing their immigration statuses except in extraordinary circumstances.”

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— Andrew Quemere (@andrewqmr.bsky.social) May 23, 2026 at 2:37 PM

Other News

On May 18, MassLive published an article titled “Boston Police commissioner criticizes lenient sentence for accused Memorial Drive gunman,” which begins as follows:

Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox condemned the light sentence handed down to the man accused of opening fire in Cambridge [on May 11] for a previous incident, adding to a growing chorus of critics.

In an interview with WCVB’s “On the Record,” Cox said the sentence given to Tyler Brown in 2021 for shooting at police officers in the South End a year prior didn’t line up with the severity of his conduct.

We’re told as a matter of fact that this sentence was “lenient” (in the headline) and “light” (in article) but there’s no evidence presented for that conclusion. All the article tells us is that the Boston police commissioner, former Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins, Governor Maura Healey, and two Republican candidates for governor believe the 5 to 6-year prison sentence Brown received was too short.

But why? The article doesn’t compare this sentence to any similar cases or even explain why the judge imposed it. The article doesn’t present any data to show that this sentence was unusual or that longer sentences tend to reduce crime. And the fact that prosecutors asked for a longer sentence in this case and that the police commissioner and some politicians also think it should’ve been longer does not prove it wasn’t warranted by the specific facts of the case. 

When someone does something bad after getting out of prison, it’s very easy to say their sentence was too short. But that’s just hindsight bias. Obviously the shooting in Cambridge that Brown is accused of committing after he was released from prison is horrific. But plenty of people are released on parole or after serving their full sentences and do not go on to commit crimes. If we sentenced everyone to the harshest possible punishment because they might commit another crime, it would cause immeasurable harm.

This type of reporting isn’t particularly insightful. Journalists aren’t required to amplify the voices of people who demand more punishment after punishment fails to prevent a crime. These sorts of statements just don’t need to be reported without context. The police commissioner can have whatever opinion he wants, but he’s just some guy so who cares? His opinion doesn’t appear to be informed by anything. 

There are a lot of other things we can do to prevent crime that reporters should be examining, but that requires a little curiosity. The Boston Globe published a story that looks into the access-to-firearms angle and briefly touches on Brown’s apparent mental health issues—that’s a good start.

And this Boston Herald article covers a different reaction to the judge’s sentence:

Rep. Mike Connolly says the failure leading to [the] chaotic shooting isn’t the five- to six-year prison sentence that Judge Janet Sanders handed Tyler Brown after his 2021 conviction of trying to kill a Boston police officer.

Rather, the Cambridge Democrat, whose district includes a part of Memorial Drive, believes that the “failure appears to be in the mental health response and the conditions leading up to Mr. Brown’s reentry.”

Connolly is backing the judge’s sentencing ruling, slamming commentators who, he says, “immediately lambasted” Sanders.

Brown was on parole when he allegedly committed this second shooting. Here are some questions that I would like to read a story answering: What supports are provided to people on parole in Massachusetts? Are those supports adequate or did they fail Brown and the community? Can those supports be strengthened to prevent future incidents like this?

Healey’s pick for Parole Board shot down due to background as prosecutor (Boston Globe; paywalled)

Despite a last-minute pitch from Governor Maura Healey, the Governor’s Council on [May 20] rejected her pick for the Massachusetts Parole Board by a 4-3 vote.

The rejection of Vincent J. DeMore III’s nomination to serve on the seven-member panel followed weeks of lobbying by opponents who argued his prosecutorial background would tilt the board toward a majority of members with law enforcement resumes.

House passes bill to create special license plates for families of cops who died on the job (USA Today Network)

Following the deaths of Officer Stephen LaPorta and Trooper Kevin Trainor, the Massachusetts House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill to honor them and all fallen law enforcement officers through a new license plate May 20.

The bill, known as An Act honoring Blue Star Families, would direct the Registry of Motor Vehicles to create a new “distinctive” license plate for cars that reads “Blue Star Family” and a Blue Star Family emblem for motorcycle plates, as well as offer vanity plate registrations. …

The bill passed the House 156-0. According to a House press release, it will go back to the Senate for approval before heading to Gov. Maura T. Healey’s desk. 

Personally, I think this is a bad idea as a matter of policy. I do not think Massachusetts, or any state, should hand out free “I’m related to a deceased cop so please give me special treatment” license plates. And let’s be real—that’s what these are. The cop who witnesses you violating traffic laws does not need to know you’re related to another cop who died on the job.

There’s something else about this bill that’s baffling. The phrase “Blue Star family” already has a meaning. It refers to a family with someone who is actively serving in the US military—there’s even a nonprofit called Blue Star Families that’s “committed to strengthening military families,” according to its website. It seems like the authors of this bill took the phrase “Gold Star family”—a family with a member who died while serving in the military—and decided to swap in blue to represent cops without realizing that’s also a military thing.

Representative Steve Xiarhos, who on May 21 shared his testimony in support of this bill on Facebook, made this explicit. He mentioned an existing Gold Star family license-plate program and said this bill would “extend that same dignity to the families of the 427 law enforcement officers who have given their lives in service to Massachusetts.”

In October, Governor Maura Healey shared a letter in support of the bill on her Facebook page. A bunch of people left comments explaining that Blue Star family is a military term. How did no one notice this before filing the bill?

Boston 25 catches MassDOT workers collecting tons of overtime despite leaving work early (Boston 25 News)

Sounds like these guys learned a thing or two from the Massachusetts State Police:

Massachusetts taxpayers and drivers help to fund billions of dollars into the state’s transportation budget every year with the expectation that their hard-earned money is going to good use.

But a 25 Investigates probe into the highest earners at one MassDOT facility reveals hours submitted on legally binding timecards do not always appear to equal time on the job.

Following a 231-day undercover investigation that began in September 2025, 25 Investigates has uncovered a systemic pattern of questionable overtime billing among the top-earning maintenance workers at a MassDOT District Six facility in Charlestown.

There are follow-up stories here and here with comments from MassDOT Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver and Governor Maura Healey.

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“A lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of students and community organizations in #Massachusetts argues the state is illegally maintaining schools that are racially segregated, concentrating Black and Latino students in high-poverty districts with fewer opportunities.”

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— Andrew Quemere (@andrewqmr.bsky.social) May 22, 2026 at 3:48 PM

He spent his last moments on earth doing interviews about how Democrats should throw trans people under the bus. I hope he died feeling fulfilled.

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— Andrew Quemere (@andrewqmr.bsky.social) May 20, 2026 at 11:12 AM

Yes, I'm suing Matt Taibbi.

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— Eoin Higgins (@eoinhiggins.bsky.social) May 20, 2026 at 9:01 PM

That’s all for now.