The latest alleged law enforcement misconduct in Mass, Oct. 5-11

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

First, here are the incidents involving ICE:

• “Rosane Ferreira-De Oliveira said she was in ‘a lot of pain’ when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested her on Worcester’s Eureka Street on May 8. An ICE agent had grabbed her shoulder and strained her nerves, the 40-year-old mother told MassLive in an interview on [October 6]. … She received care at a hospital … [but during] her five months of detention … Ferreira-De Oliveira said that the staff never provided her with [her] medication or [her] exercise sheet.” (MassLive)
• “In a ruling issued this [October 7], US District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor ordered the immediate release of Carlos Roberto De Andrade, who went to the ICE office/ad-hoc prison in Burlington for ‘a routine check-in’ on Aug. 22 and instead found himself bound and transported to the Plymouth County jail, where ICE planned to keep him locked up until they could figure out which country to send him to.” (Universal Hub)
• “[A] federal judge in Boston [on October 9] ordered [ICE] to get a Massachusetts man with serious medical problems out of a prison in Natchez, MS and bring him back to Massachusetts so that he can apply for the immigration equivalent of bail while he pursues his request to stay in the US permanently.” (Universal Hub)
• “A Boston federal judge [on October 9] ordered the immediate release of a Ghanaian national who has been locked up at the Plymouth County jail since July 3, in yet another case of [ICE] trying to ignore the section of immigration law that deals with people who have been in the country for awhile.” (Universal Hub)

And here are the incidents involving state and local law enforcement:

• “The New Bedford Police Department … announced that it arrested a man and charged him with a firearm offense after an officer conducted a welfare check on a person seen ‘slumped’ in his car in the roadway. … What the Sept. 29 press release doesn’t state is that the firearm, a handgun, is registered to a New Bedford police officer. The department’s internal affairs unit opened an internal investigation the day of the arrest, Assistant Deputy Chief Scott Carola told The Light.” (New Bedford Light)
• “Norfolk County Sheriff Patrick McDermott, who state regulators [in September] accused of unlawfully using campaign money to further his business interests, … resigned as president of the Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association on [October 8], the first day of a planned association summit in Lenox.” (Boston Globe; paywalled)
• “Following two recent tragedies and a union letter questioning his leadership, the Haverhill, Massachusetts, police chief [Robert Pistone] announced his retirement [on October 9] shortly after he was placed on administrative leave.” (WCVB)
• “Haverhill is getting their third police chief in 24 hours. Mayor Melinda Barrett said in light of ‘new information,’ she is placing newly-appointed Acting Haverhill Police Chief Stephen Doherty on paid administrative leave.” (WCVB)
• “An independent investigation into departmental operations at the Haverhill Police Department is set to begin … after Francis Gigliotti, 43, died while police officers restrained him. The decision comes after lawyer Timothy Bradl, who is representing Gigliotti’s family, requested an independent investigation into Gigliotti’s fatal interaction with police in July.” (MassLive)
• “A former female detective lieutenant with the Massachusetts State Police took the witness stand [on October 10] to describe a boys-club culture within the agency’s command as she made sweeping claims of race and gender discrimination within the agency’s promotional structure. … The lawsuit, first filed in 2016, involves allegations that the overwhelmingly male and white State Police brass routinely pass over female and minority troopers for promotion, and exile those who do earn advancement to far-flung barracks and overnight shifts.” (Boston Globe; paywalled)

If you haven’t read it yet, please check out my story from last week about Wrongful Conviction Day:

Mr. Wright Goes to Boston

After spending 41 years in prison for a murder he said he did not commit, Edward Wright joined advocates in Boston to call for an end to wrongful convictions

The Mass DumpAndrew Quemere

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Anyway, that’s all for now.