Timeline of events preceding DOJ scrutiny of police
WORCESTER ― Among the largest questions remaining about the U.S. Department of Justice's civil probe into the city's Police Department is the reason it began.
The DOJ has not disclosed the specific cause, and, unlike a similar review of the Springfield police, the investigation here is not confined to a singular unit.
The entire department will be scrutinized for a "pattern or practice" of excessive force or bias based on race or sex. U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael S. Rollins said the “overwhelming majority of officers serve and do their jobs with honor” and that her investigation will follow the facts where they lead.
While the majority of the more than 70 similar probes conducted nationwide have ended with court-ordered reforms, not all have: 26 of the civil probes ended without a finding of systemic concerns.
Worcester, the second-largest city in New England, with more than 400 officers, has largely avoided the kinds of deadly police encounters that have sparked outrage in other cities.
It has consistently been named on lists of safe cities, and is currently ranked as the eighth-safest city in which to live by U.S. News & World Report.
After a spike in violence in the mid 2010s, violent crime has trended downward, with the city going the entire year of 2017 without a murder by firearm for the first time in at least a quarter century.
Police and Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. have stressed youth violence prevention initiatives for years, with Worcester County data last summer showing a 64% drop in delinquency rates since 2015.
However, the county ‒ along with the state ‒ sees persistent racial disparities in delinquency rates. A state-facilitated study of 10 months of traffic data from 2020 found Hispanic and Black people were arrested at higher rates than whites in Worcester after traffic stops, though researchers cautioned the study did not confirm racial profiling.
Like other communities of its size, Worcester has long faced allegations of biased policing from communities of color. Officers, often from drug or gun units, have been accused of committing Constitutional violations, and the city has faced many lawsuits alleging excessive force.
From 2006 to 2019, the city paid $4.6 million to settle about three dozen lawsuits on behalf of police, records the city provided to the T&G in response to a public records request show.
Unlike many other cities of its size, Worcester has not implemented body cameras or a civilian review board. It has consistently resisted the Telegram & Gazette’s efforts to get information about its internal investigations into alleged misconduct.
The T&G successfully sued the city for internal police records regarding cases mentioned in a lengthy civil rights complaint lodged with local and federal prosecutors in 2018.
The DOJ ‒ which largely curtailed pattern-or-practice probes in 2018 before expanding them in 2021 ‒ rejected a T&G FOIA request related to the 2018 complaint last year, citing an "ongoing law enforcement proceeding."
Below is a timeline detailing some of the lawsuits and scrutiny Worcester police have faced in recent years.
2022
September
Lawsuit settles for $275K
A former city man arrested on a false police report in 2019 settled his lawsuit with the city for $275,000.
The man, Christopher Ayala-Melendez, sued in 2020 after video he obtained showed a K-9 officer’s report about the arrest to be untruthful.
Officer Shawn Tivnan, who authorities list as having lied on a witness disclosure form, remains active in the patrol unit pending the outcome of a disciplinary process.
Man imprisoned 16 years wins $8 million civil lawsuit
Natale Cosenza, a former city man jailed 16 years following a home invasion, was awarded $8 million in September after a jury ruled he was wrongly convicted based on fabricated evidence.
The city has said it will appeal the ruling, which jurors issued after a weeklong trial in which lawyers for Cosenza argued officers suppressed exculpatory evidence and improperly influenced the victim during the identification process.
City Hall workers report "toxic" racial environment
A City Hall equity audit ordered by the city administration in 2020 finds a evidence the "culture of the City workplace does not support racial equity and is not widely supportive of change in general.” A similar audit of the Police Department is pending.
August
Pastors sue department over Taser incident
Father and son pastors this summer filed a lawsuit following a 2019 incident in which one was subdued with a Taser inside a city church.
Body camera footage shows an officer chasing the elder pastor into the church, then using the stun gun on the man for allegedly resisting arrest.
The man, his son and a female family member were all acquitted of charges stemming from the incident, which was sparked when police came to the church investigating a child custody dispute.
The lawsuit remains active in federal court.
April
Murder charges dropped
A Leicester man who spent five months in jail on a murder charge before seeing charges dropped sued Worcester police in federal court.
The man, Dana Gaul, alleges he was indicted as a result of "fabricated witness identifications, unduly suggestiveidentification procedures, and false reports."
Charges against Gaul were dropped in February after authorities turned their attention to another man they said provided evidence that cleared Gaul.
March
The city's chief diversity officer resigns, suggesting the city was not ready for change and that her skills "would be best put to use in an environment where I can have more of an impact."
Her departure ‒ the third departure from the position since its creation in 2016 ‒ prompts criticism from advocacy groups across the city.
February
Reform advocates renew calls for a police civilian review board. Many groups, and one city councilor, have pushed for such a board several times in recent years, but city officials have opted not to create one.
T&G records lawsuit
A judge orders the city to pay punitive damages after finding the city acted in bad faith by illegally withholding police internal affairs records from the T&G for years.
The judge noted the city's core argument lacked merit or precedent and that one of its withholdings violated another case it had lost to the T&G. She admonished the city that lawyers are not allowed to make misrepresentations in court.
In the course of the litigation, the city argued that the T&G requested internal police records under the "guise" of watchdog journalism.
At trial, city head litigator Wendy L. Quinn ‒ who left for private practice this spring but continues to defend city police on several cases ‒ suggested that a ruling against the city might "deter municipalities from undertaking thorough investigations and cataloguing complaints against police officers."
January
City settles racial profiling lawsuit
The city paid $20,000 to settle a racial profiling lawsuit filed by a Liberian immigrant arrested after police investigated him for shoplifting.
The man, who was not shoplifting, saw charges of resisting arrest dropped after his lawyer argued surveillance video showed the officer lied in his report.
2021
September
Allegations of discrimination in promotions
The city pays $1.5 million to settle a 27-year lawsuit filed by two Black police officers who sued in the 1990s alleging discrimination in the city's promotional practices.
One of the two plaintiffs, Andrew Harris, died before the lawsuit settled, which the NAACP urged the city to stop fighting after a scathing court ruling in 2015.
That year, a judge determined the city intentionally discriminated against minority officers, and said city officials had given “incomplete and inaccurate” testimony during prior proceedings.
May
Eighteen community groups, citing a lack of police transparency and oversight, write a letter to city leaders and politicians renewing calls for a civilian review board with subpoena powers. The Board of Health votes to endorse the recommendation, which city leaders to do not enact.
February
Chief denies racism in department
After a spring in which police held at-times contentious meetings with the Board of Health over suggested police reforms, the T&G published a report calling into question denials from Chief Steven M. Sargent about ever seeing racism in the department.
Sargent, who told city officials he'd not seen racism in his 35 years, personally signed off on a report finding that a sergeant had used the "N" word to describe teenagers she was accused of racially profiling.
The report also noted that the department has faced multiple lawsuits from city police officers regarding alleged discrimination, and quoted former officers of color who contradicted the chief's statements.
Black immigrant sues over arrest, phone seizure
Sylvester Agyeah, a Ghanaian immigrant arrested after filming a police sting in front of his vehicle, filed a federal lawsuit.
The lawsuit is pending.
Alleged sickout
Nearly two dozen police officers call in sick ‒ called "blue flu" ‒ in possible protest of discipline issued to an officer who was recorded slapping a patient during a medical call who had spit on him.
2020
June
George Floyd protests
Police arrest nearly two dozen people after a protest following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis turns violent in Main South.
One man was found with Molotov cocktails in his bag after being spotted on a roof. Businesses were damaged, cruisers were damaged and police and protesters exchanged projectiles.
The chaotic night spawned dueling narratives about how police handled the event, and led some Clark University students, a few of whom were arrested, to advocate for defunding police.
A Clark report determined student allegations of mistreatment "credible." Videos indicated law enforcement stomped on one student's phone, while another man's phone disappeared.
An organization called Defund WPD was founded following the protests; it has called for reallocation of resources, asked DOJ to investigate the department and drawn attention to negative moments in the department's history on social media.
The T&G in March 2021 published a city pole cam video that cut out just before a photographer's arrest was captured. The man's lawyers, who alleged police had deleted things from his phone, called for the charges to be dropped.
Prosecutors dropped charges against the man and at least eight others two days later, saying they did not have enough evidence to proceed.
2016
June
Confession thrown out
The city paid $2.1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a city woman who accused them of coercing a murder confession from her regarding her baby's death.
A judge tossed out the woman's confession and she was freed after a finding that the police interrogation video "suggests a situation potentially coercive to the point of making an innocent person confess to a crime."
May
Video contradicts press release
Police release video footage to the T&G regarding the death of a man, Wilmer Delgado-Soba, who was subdued with a Taser inside a city market nine months prior.
The footage appears to contradict some of the statements police initially made about what occurred, with the department saying part of their initial press release had been a mistake.
No police officers were charged with wrongdoing.
2014
March
Assault in cellblock
Pineiro, the civil rights lawyer, filed a complaint with the city on behalf of a Black man, Gerald Jones, who alleges he was beaten while handcuffed inside a cell in December 2014.
Worcester police arrest officer Michael Motyka the following month and charge him with assaulting the man, as well as a civil rights violation.
The latter charge was dropped, and Motyka was sentenced to probation on a conviction of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in 2017.
The T&G reported that multiple coworkers in the cellblock who failed to report the assault quietly retired afterward, including one seen on video joking, "Why didn't he knock him out?" immediately afterward.
The city reached an out-of-court settlement with Jones for $225,000 in 2015.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Timeline of events preceding Dept. of Justice's civil probe of WPD
