The latest alleged law enforcement misconduct in Mass, Sept. 21-Oct. 4

I recently appeared on BINJ Live to discuss wrongful convictions in Massachusetts. You can watch that here:

We talked about my reporting on the cases of James Carver and Eddie Wright as well as efforts to reform the state’s system for compensating victims of wrongful convictions. Check the links to read more about those stories.

Anyway, below are the media reports of alleged law enforcement misconduct in Massachusetts that I’ve tracked during the last two weeks.

Once again, I’m listing incidents involving ICE agents and immigration-related federal law enforcement activity separately:

• “Chaotic moments captured on video [on September 26] appear to show Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pushing a Chelsea woman to the ground during an arrest. Hilda Ramirez says ICE agents smashed the windows, dragging her, her two brothers-in-law, and her 13-year-old son, who has autism, out of the vehicle.” (WCVB)
• “The manager of a restaurant in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood is now free after spending almost three months in ICE custody [before a judge granted him asylum]. Paul Dama came to the United States in 2019 from Nigeria. He said he was escaping the terror group Boko Haram, who had kidnapped him. … He said [an ICE agent] told him he had overstayed his visa, despite him telling the officer he had applied for asylum.” (WBZ)
• “The ACLU has filed a federal class-action lawsuit on behalf of immigrants who are being detained by ICE agents and denied bond hearings, contrary to statutory and constitutional law, according to a copy of the complaint. … If this unlawful practice does not come to an end, ‘thousands in Massachusetts will be denied due process,’ the lawsuit said.” (Boston Globe; paywalled)
• “On [September 30], a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled that the Trump administration had illegally used the threat of deportation to silence noncitizens in higher education who protested the war in Gaza in support of Palestine. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge William G. Young reiterated evidence and information surrounding the government’s decision to revoke several F-1 student visas, including that of Tufts graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk.” (Tufts Daily)
• “A mother living in Leominster says that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) held her 5-year-old daughter [on September 16] to force the arrest of her husband, a Guatemalan man living in the country for the past 25 years.” (MassLive)
• “Family members say a man from Massachusetts has been wrongfully detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after mistakenly being taken into custody over two weeks ago. … Via video call, [Jhon] Palacio-Morales showed WBZ the wristband he has worn since being taken into custody. He says it has the date of birth and name of an individual that is not him.” (WBZ)
• “A Brazilian mother of three who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Worcester was granted asylum in the United States on [September 30]. Rosane Ferreira-De Oliveira was taken away by ICE agents in front of two of her daughters and a crowd of angry bystanders on Eureka Street on May 8. The arrest sent shockwaves through Worcester.” (MassLive)
• “A well-known Massachusetts immigration attorney says federal agents cornered him at Logan International Airport [on September 28] week and confiscated his phone without justification, according to a lawsuit he filed to retrieve the device. … In an order [on October 3], U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs barred the federal government ‘from conducting any searches or further searches’ of the cell phone ‘and from transmitting, analyzing, or otherwise using any data already gathered’ from it.” (MassLive)

Here are incidents involving state and local law enforcement:

• “Boston is paying a total of $150,000 to two men who were wrongly suspected in the 1989 Charles and Carol Stuart case. Willie Bennett was paid $100,000, while Alan Swanson received $50,000. In Dec. 2023, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu formally apologized to both men.” (WBZ)
• “A police officer linked to the Sandra Birchmore case has reached an agreement with the Massachusetts police oversight agency to never again seek certification for police work. This effectively brings to an end his law enforcement career in the state. Joshua Heal, a former Abington police officer, has been described as a confidant of Birchmore.” (MassLive)
• “A Board of Bar Overseers hearing committee is recommending that two former Plymouth County prosecutors [John E. Bradley Jr. and Karen H. O’Sullivan] be suspended — one for two years, and the other for a year and a day — for their actions that led to a Brockton High School senior spending 17 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted for setting a house fire that killed her parents.” (Mass Lawyers Weekly; paywalled)
• “A former Boston police sergeant charged with raping a 14-year-old boy pleaded not guilty in superior court [on September 26] and was released on bail, according to court records. Paul Downey, 58, was initially arraigned on four counts of aggravated rape of a minor, two counts of paying for sex with a child under 18, and two counts of electronically enticing a child for commercial sex in Boston Municipal Court in June.” (Boston.com)
• “A Suffolk County sheriff’s corrections officer [Fabrizio Rico] was busted this summer for allegedly trafficking methamphetamine, and another employee for that office was recently fired for allegedly smuggling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of a synthetic cannabinoid to an inmate in court.” (Boston Globe; paywalled)
• “Norfolk County Sheriff Patrick McDermott agreed to pay a $7,500 penalty and hand over tens of thousands in campaign cash to resolve allegations that he misused political funds to contract services for personal business ventures instead of efforts to stay in elected office.” (Boston Herald)
• “Rachael Rollins, who resigned from her post as the top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts amid a wave of controversy in 2023, has agreed to a public reprimand for misconduct. … Rollins resigned after two federal watchdog agencies released scathing reports on her conduct in office. Rollins was accused of an ‘extraordinary’ abuse of power tied to her efforts to meddle in the 2022 race for Suffolk DA.” (Boston.com)
• “The state’s highest court says the Lowell Police may have crossed a constitutional line when they used Snapchat to investigate a 2020 firearms case, and now they will have to prove those tactics were not racially biased. … In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that the defense attorneys representing [Nathaniel] Rodriguez had raised a ‘reasonable inference of selective enforcement in violation of his equal protection rights’ and ordered a lower court to hold a hearing where prosecutors must show that the investigation was not motivated by race.” (Lowell Sun)
• “A federal judge [on September 29] denied a request from a Boston police officer [Michael Burke] to dismiss a civil-rights lawsuit against him by a participant in a May 31, 2020 rally turned riot downtown, concluding it should be up to a jury to decide whether he violated the man’s rights by striking him from behind with his service baton as the man was trying to leave.” (Universal Hub)
• “[In 2023, Groton school resource officer Omar] Connor [was] suspended and then fired over claims that he sexually harassed both students and teachers at Groton-Dunstable Regional High School. … Now in question is whether Connor can ever return to work for a police department in Massachusetts, and whether the commonwealth’s police oversight board will take steps to prevent him from finding employment with a department in another state as well.” (MassLive)
• “Prosecutors in the forthcoming Brian Walshe trial are asking a judge to bar any reference to the discipline against several Massachusetts State Police troopers involved in the case, including former trooper Michael Proctor.” (MassLive)
• “Financial records … show employees with the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department traveled all over the country and beyond since the beginning of 2024, including a stay in the Bahamas. Receipts from the department’s procurement card — or P-card — also show taxpayers picked up the tab for thousands of dollars in catering, while employees also enjoyed steak and lobster at downtown Boston restaurants.” (NBC10 Boston)
• “The sister of a woman who hanged herself while in lockup at the Roderick L. Ireland courthouse continues to battle in a lawsuit for more information on her late sibling’s death, while the state’s Trial Court is seeking to have the case thrown out.” (Republican)
• “A Millis police officer is on leave after he was arrested [September 30] and charged with domestic assault and battery, police officials said. Officer Craig Thompson, a patrolman and 10-year veteran of the Millis Police Department, faces a felony charge of strangulation or suffocation and a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery, according to records on file in Wrentham District Court.” (MassLive)

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