Crime
Though a newly-released report absolves the Middlesex DA’s office of any wrongdoing, it raises a plethora of further questions.
An internal investigation of Middlesex DA Marian Ryan’s office has brought new details to light about a crash involving a state sergeant. Matthew J Lee/The Boston Globe
Massachusetts State Police never officially notified the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office about a sergeant assigned to the DA’s office who allegedly drove drunk and caused a fatal crash in 2023, according to prosecutors.
Scott Quigley was indicted March 26 on a charge of negligent motor vehicle homicide while operating under the influence. Prosecutors allege that, on Dec. 12, 2023, his negligent driving caused the death of Angelo Schettino, a 37-year-old man with developmental disabilities.
Quigley allegedly ran his unmarked State Police cruiser into oncoming traffic in Woburn and struck a van that was taking Schettino, who used a wheelchair, to a group home in Lynn. Schettino and the van driver were both injured in the crash, and Schettino died from his injuries about a month later.
Details about the crash were largely unknown to the public for years, but emerged in recent months because of their relevance to a Lowell murder trial. Counsel for brothers Billoeum, Billy, and Channa Phan, the defendants in that trial, alleged that it disrupted their case because Quigley was its lead investigator=e.
At the time of the crash, Quigley was assigned to the DA’s detective unit. On Wednesday, the DA’s office released a report on an internal investigation into what its employees knew.
Middlesex DA Marian Ryan commissioned the independent investigation last month, and retired Superior Court Judge Thomas Drechsler conducted it. Drechsler interviewed 34 office employees, including Ryan, 23 current and four former assistant district attorneys, and six others.
Interviewees told Drechsler that in the aftermath of the crash, they had learned that Quigley was severely injured and would be unavailable to work “for an extended time period,” according to the report. Some of them said they had heard that Quigley had fallen asleep at the wheel or had a medical episode, and most were unaware that a second vehicle had been involved.
Lieutenant allegedly told DA’s security director that Quigley ‘was a 0.11’ during the crash
Nearly every employee who spoke to Drechsler as part of the investigation denied hearing anything about Quigley being under the influence prior to those allegations being disclosed for the Phan trial, according to the report. However, Scott Sarsfield, the DA’s director of operations and security, told Drechsler that he knew as early as the spring of 2024.
Sarsfield recalled that he “overheard” the day after the crash that a second vehicle was involved, Drechsler wrote in the report. Some time later, “in the spring or summer of 2024,” he spoke with Lt. Anthony DeLucia and asked him how Quigley was doing.
DeLucia allegedly said he had heard that Quigley “was a ‘0.11’” at the time of the crash, which Sarsfield took to mean his blood alcohol level. He then allegedly advised Sarsfield not to repeat that information, according to the report.
Sarsfield told Drechsler that he never shared this information because he believed that “the proper notifications had been made and that anyone who needed to know was informed,” the report states. It was only when the allegations became public that he disclosed the conversation to his supervisors.
On Feb. 12, after the court disclosures determining that Quigley may have been intoxicated were released, DeLucia allegedly told Sarsfield, “what we had talked about, take that to the grave.” Sarsfield later documented the details of the 2024 conversation in a handwritten statement he gave to Drechsler.
Quigley and Sarsfield “communicated directly on several occasions” after the crash, but nothing came up that suggested that Quigley had been intoxicated at the time, Drechsler wrote in the report. Aside from Sarsfield, no other interviewees recalled hearing anything before the court disclosures that may have indicated that Quigley was driving drunk at the time of the crash.
State Police reports, government documents omit crucial details
Drechsler reviewed State Police reports about the crash, which stated that Quigley was not charged with any criminal offense, he wrote. Rather, he was “issued only a civil citation warning for a civil motor vehicle infraction.”
While the reports stated that Quigley was “seriously injured,” they indicated that both occupants of the van he struck had only suspected minor injuries, according to Drechsler. They also specifically stated that Quigley had not been drinking alcohol prior to the crash, he wrote.
Documents from the Disabled Persons Protection Commission (DPPC) were also found to lack essential details about the crash. Schettino’s cause of death was listed as “unknown,” but also suggested to have been due to sepsis, and several dates of death were referenced, the report states.
The documents make no mention of Quigley, nor do they make any reference to “any party alleged to have been at fault,” according to Drechsler. They also refer to the setting of the incident as Medford rather than Woburn.
Local, state police failed to notify DA’s office about crash
Drechsler further found that State Police and Woburn police, both of whom responded to the crash, never provided the DA’s office with details in its immediate aftermath, according to the report.
All police departments serving Middlesex County are required to report any motor vehicle accident “which is fatal, potentially fatal, or involved serious bodily injury,” to the DA’s office within 24 hours of its occurrence, Drechsler wrote. Each week, an assistant district attorney is assigned to a 24-hour emergency phone line to be reached in those circumstances.
However, the employee assigned to that line the week of Quigley’s crash denied receiving any notification about it, according to the report. All other employees overseeing that week’s incidents likewise stated that neither State Police nor Woburn police ever brought it to their attention.
Quigley’s arraignment date has not yet been set, and his attorney information was not immediately available Wednesday night. Due to his connections to the Middlesex DA’s office, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden is prosecuting his case.
Ryan provided Wednesday’s report, along with all related documents and recordings, to the Suffolk DA’s office, according to a press release. Copies of the report have also been provided to counsel for Schettino’s family, both parties in the Phan case, and State Police.
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