ACLU calls for federal investigation into Massachusetts State Police recruit's death

BOSTON — The ACLU is calling for a federal investigation into the death of Massachusetts State Police recruit Enrique Delgado-Garcia.

Delgado-Garcia, 25, died after suffering a “medical crisis” following a boxing “training exercise” earlier this month at the New Braintree Academy, according to the MSP.

An ACLU statement said his “incredibly severe” injuries include “damage to his brain, a broken neck, and missing teeth. It is hard to imagine how such injuries could have been inflicted in a closely supervised training environment.”

“It is critical that allegations of misconduct, discrimination, and abuse at police training facilities … be thoroughly, impartially, and rapidly investigated,” Jessie Rossman, the legal director at the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in a statement Friday, adding that it has been more than a week since state agencies have launched an investigation. “Federal authorities, like the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation, should urgently step in and initiate an immediate federal investigation into Mr. Delgado-Garcia’s death and the related circumstances.”

Investigation into the tragedy fell to the Worcester District Attorney’s office. That office said days later that it would be turning the case over to independent investigators, citing a conflict of interest because the recruit used to work in there as a victim witness advocate for a year and a half before moving to the MSP in April.

Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early, Jr., did not indicate who would do the investigation instead but that he did not want to give the case to another DA’s office.

The ACLU of Massachusetts in a statement Friday expressed major concerns about issues at the Academy, adding that one of Delgado-Garcia’s former classmates alleged “severe instances of abuse and discrimination” there, which “raises serious questions about whether there is a pattern and practice of discrimination or other systemic illegality at the Academy.”