1999 – 2024

Enrique Delgado-Garcia

Enrique Delgado-Garcia was born on January 2, 1999 in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, to Neftali Delgado and Sandra Garcia. He graduated from North High School in 2017 and went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from Westfield State University. Prior to entering the police academy, Delgado worked as a victim witness advocate in the district attorney’s office, where he was dedicated to helping those affected by crime. His passion for justice and public service shaped his career aspirations, leading him to pursue a future in law enforcement.

Enrique Delgado Garcia

State Police 90th Recruit Training Troop

When Enrique Delgado-Garcia applied to the 90th RTT in 2023, the funding for its class had not yet been finalized, but the process moved forward with the expectation that approval would be granted. An email sent to recruits stated the following:

“I am pleased to inform you that in anticipation of funding, the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) will soon begin preparations for the 90″ Recruit Training Troop (RTT). Please note that the budget for this class has not yet been approved by the Legislature, the 90th RTT remains subject to appropriation.‘

2023 – Enrique Delgado-Garcia

90th RTT Selection Process

November 2023, The Selection process for 90th Recruit began.

“Interested in becoming a Massachusetts State Trooper? The journey begins now with the 90th Recruit Training Troop (RTT) process underway.”

March 23, 2024,  350 Candidates were fitted for uniforms by state police vendors for the 90th RTT by May 11, 2024 week four only 201 cadets left on deck.

On April 9, 2024, Enrique Delgado-Garcia entered the 90th Recruit Training Troop and was set to graduate on October 9, 2024, at the DCU Indoor Convention Center complex in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts.

On September 12, 2024 Enrique Delgado-Garcia, 25, of Worcester, became unresponsive in the boxing ring during a defensive tactics training exercise at the State Police Academy on Thursday. He was knocked out for nearly 10 minutes after absorbing a blow to the head. On-site medical team responded after Delgado-Garcia became unresponsive. They determined that he required urgent medical care and took him to the hospital.

On Friday September 13, 2024 Delgado-Garcia, 25, died at a hospital a day after the exercise at the Massachusetts State police academy in New Braintree, an agency spokesperson, Tim McGuirk, said in a statement.

On Friday night, before Enrique was removed from life support, he received his trooper badge and the State Police oath of office was administered. He was surrounded by his family, loved ones, and classmates during during the final hours of his life.

Lindsay Corcoran, a spokesperson for the Worcester county district attorney’s office said

“The matter is under review and the review has been active and ongoing since we were notified of the incident on Thursday,”

Enrique Delgado-Garcia MSP Cadet Class April 2024
Enrique Delgado Garcia Injuries
Family September 13, 2024

Mother: Sandra Garcia

According to Enrique Delgado-Garcia family he suffered a broken neck, missing teeth and severe brain damage and the family now demanding accountability as well as an explanations to what went on inside the walls of the academy.

Mother: Sandra Garcia

“They killed my child,” “Then they declared that he supposedly had a brain damage, the doctor says that my son looks like he had been in an accident in a car going 100 miles per hour, because of how hard that boy hit my son.” ” He was hit so hard that it destroyed his brain and broke all of my son’s teeth, that his neck was fractured.”

Enrique Delgado-Garcia Graduation
massachusetts-state-police-recruit Enrique Delgado-Garcia
Family  statements

Father: Canario García

“He was the best of all of us,” “All he ever did was study and run. That’s all he ever did.”

Step Father: José Perez said

“As a family, we are asking for an explanation,” “Something happened so quickly and we are truly distraught. The family is devastated.”

Cousin: Omel Canario García.

“They killed my cousin! And they run away like cowards,” He does not believe what he’s been told about how his cousin’s fatal injuries. “Teeth missing? Brain injury? That didn’t come from boxing, especially a round of two minutes,”

September 14, 2024 – Governor Maura Healeyl

Statement from Governor Healey on the Death Enrique Delgado Garcia

“I’m heartbroken about the loss of Massachusetts State Police Trainee Enrique Delgado Garcia, who had committed himself to a career protecting the people of Massachusetts. He was a beloved member of his academy class, known for his compassion and devotion to service. This is a devastating time for all who knew and loved him, and we are holding Enrique’s family and his State Police community in our hearts.”

September 14, 2024 Enrique Body Transport

Enrique Body Transport

Enrique Delgado-Garcia’s body was transported from the hospital to the medical examiner’s facility in Westfield on Saturday evening on September 14, 2024.

State police said he was administered the oath of office before his death, and his body was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner by a motorcade that carried Enrique Delgado Garcia’s body from the hospital to the Medical Examiner’s office in Westfield.

My dream was to be a State Trooper.

Former MSP recruit says he was harassed at academy

The former classmate of the Massachusetts State Police recruit who died after an incident at the academy says he was subject to hazing and harassment.

September 21, 2024 MSP Academy suspend Boxing

MSP Academy suspended full-contact boxing training activities until further notice.

Tim McGuirk, a state police department spokesperson, said in a statement Sunday night.

“The Academy suspended full-contact boxing training activities between trainees until further notice,”

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell has appointed attorney David Meier to head an independent investigation into the death of state police recruit Enrique Delgado-Garcia.

“Trooper Delgado-Garcia lost his life while training to protect and serve the Commonwealth, and I want to thank his family and the public for their patience as we sought to identify the most appropriate authority to investigate the facts surrounding his tragic death,” said AG Campbell. “Today, I am appointing Attorney David Meier to lead that investigation. Mr. Meier has deep experience in death investigations and will ensure independence and integrity in this matter.”

Mr. Meier will oversee the investigation into the circumstances surrounding Delgado-Garcia’s death independently and impartially. He will have complete authority to select his own investigative and legal team and to make his own independent decisions about the facts, the evidence, and the course of the investigation. 

Mr. Meier and the investigative team will be afforded the full support of the Attorney General’s Office, and the AGO will be briefed throughout the investigation. The Massachusetts State Police will have no role in the investigative team or decision-making process.   Read Full Statement Here

Celebration of Life

He wanted to make a difference In the community, to actually serve and protect. If it wasn’t him studying he was working out or playing basketball. Didn’t have a bad bone In his body.

“He was a very by the book guy, all he did was study and run. The dude always was a role model”.

Massachusetts State Police Academy History

The State Police Academy is located in New Braintree, Massachusetts as a 780 acre compound consisting of over 20 buildings. These include classrooms, a dining facility, a firearms range, sleeping quarters, a physical plant, and a gymnasium. A small housing community, often called Circle Drive, is used for office space and realistic training exercises. Additionally, training facility includes a certified confidence course.

The Massachusetts State Police Academy has a troubled past marked by controversies and challenges. Over the years, the academy has faced scrutiny for various issues, including allegations of hazing, misconduct, and concerns about the rigor and fairness of its training programs. These problems have raised questions about the culture within the academy and the broader implications for the state’s law enforcement practices.

Despite efforts to reform and address these issues, the academy’s past continues to cast a shadow over its reputation. Massachusetts State Police Training Academy has a big dropping out at record rate. Most of the trainees dropped out within the first two weeks of the academy, a period marked by intense physical and mental challenges. The top three reasons for their departure were medical issues or injuries, being unprepared physically or mentally, and realizing they had chosen the wrong career path. MSP Academy

MSP Recruit Training includes MMA Fighting styles.

FGB was developed by Crossfit, with the name coined by MMA fighter B.J. Penn. The program was adopted into the training curriculum of the MSP academy and has proven to be invaluable in preparing recruits for the rigors and stress of the job of a State Trooper.

Workout mimics MMA fight with compound movements. Three Rounds, each round is five minutes, with one minute rest in between. Total 17 min.

  • 03:58 Designed to push past limits
  • 04:16 Simulates real-life fight intensity
  • 04:58 Training critical for life or death situations

Intense training simulating real-life fights to push recruits beyond their limits for life-saving skills. Training designed to push individuals past their limits for life-saving skills. Importance of intense training for real-world scenarios where it could be a matter of life and death

Massachusetts State Police recruit was airlifted to a Boston hospital on March 8 for a serious illness.

March 8, 2023

Massachusetts State Police say a recruit was airlifted to a Boston hospital on March 8th and is still receiving care for a serious illness. Recruit was hospitalized for eight days in Critical Medical Unit.

Statement from Dave Procopio

During morning inspection on Wednesday, March 8, Massachusetts State Police Academy Drill Staff observed that a Trainee in the 88th Recruit Training Troop appeared ill. The Trainee was sent to the on-site Academy Medical Unit and was assessed by a Trooper, who immediately directed that the Trainee be transported by ambulance to UMass Memorial-Harrington Hospital, where he was treated for a serious illness. The Trainee was subsequently transferred, via medical helicopter, to Beth Israel-Deaconess in Boston, where he continues to receive care for his illness,” Dave Procopio, MSP spokesman, said in a statement.

Massachusetts State Police trainees injured after being forced to crawl on hot pavement

July 2022

Multiple Massachusetts State Police Academy trainees were injured during an unauthorized training exercise at the facility in New Braintree.

They were treated for injuries after being forced to do “bear crawls” across hot pavement.

Statement from Dave Procopio

“The exercise resulted in blisters to some trainee’s hands, which were treated by the Academy Medical Unit. The Colonel immediately initiated an investigation of the unauthorized training and further increased oversight of training operations,” state police spokesman Dave Procopio said in a statement.

The department removed the two academy drill instructors who supervised the exercises and returned them to their regular assignments elsewhere in the department at the direction of State Police Col. Christopher Mason. Detective Lt Scott McDonald, commandant of the academy, and Lt. Matthew Gladu were the supervisors transferred out along with a pair of drill instructors involved in the bear-crawling exercise

Massachusetts State Police trainees suffered abrasions
Massachusetts State Police trainees injured after Accidentslly discharging a gun

July 6, 2022

Multiple Massachusetts State Police Academy The recruit sustained a superficial wound to his lower leg on July 6, and was taken by ambulance to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.

He was holstering his gun at the time of the mishap, according to state police report.

By the afternoon, he had returned to the academy and was expected to resume training.

Cadet involved in an accidental shooting at the academy has resigned after his return from a hospital. The recruit submitted his resignation and left the program Thursday.

The trainee was a member of the 87th recruit training class that is expected to graduate in October.

Massachusetts State Police trainees 2021

December 2021

Multiple Massachusetts State Police Academy December, two troopers were suspended without pay for failing to intervene when a group of trainees were filmed  hurtling down a makeshift slip-n-slide in a hallway at the facility.

Statement from Dave Procopio

Troopers Douglas Grout was suspended for 45 days and Trooper Ryan Stanley was suspended for 30 days — both without pay. An internal investigation revealed Grout and Stanley directed the trainees to participate, took video of the hijinks.

Massachusetts State Police trainees

2005

In 2005, senior officials at the academy were reassigned to other posts after it was revealed that instructors had been dunking trainees’ heads into dirty toilet bowls. Lt. Richard Lane was removed from his post. A decade earlier, a state appeals court judge had ruled that the state’s anti-hazing law did not apply to the academy. The academy’s regulations strictly prohibit officers from engaging in unprofessional language or behavior.

1998

In 1988, Timothy Shepard, a 25-year-old from Pittsfield, collapsed from heat stroke just a week into his training at a state police academy. Although he eventually regained consciousness and underwent a surgery, he succumbed to an infection and passed away six weeks later on November 3, 1998

Massachusetts Police Academy Training
Massachusetts State Police trainees 1978

1978

Police recruits walk out FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (AP) – Nearly a quarter of the training class at the Massachusetts State Police Academy walked out one week after the course began, calling it “degrading and inhuman treatment.” But Sgt. Paul Biloff said the 25 percent dropout rate is normal. Four of the eight women recruits were among those who walked out. “The pressure situations created at the academy are designed to make a trainee react quickly to situations he might face in the future,” Biloff “It weeds out the people who can’t take it. The really intense pressure is in the first week. They don’t realize it will let up as the 20-week program goes along.” But even so, it was still too much for some of the recruits. None of them wanted to be identified, they said, because it might hurt them while looking forother jobs.

Öne of the 119 recruits who started the course last week said he reported to camp in a business suit and was ordered to run a mile through mud and water, then do pushups in a puddle. “They woke us in the night and made us drag our sheets and bedclothes through the showers and then sleep in them,” he said Another recruit who left after 72 hours said trainees were jammed in groups into toilet stalls and made to stay there for one hour. “We had a couple of guys who had been in the Marine Corps and said it was worse than Parris Island,” he said. “One guy said.he’d rather do one year of boot camp there than what the state police were doing to us.”

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Municipal Police Training Committee

Use of Force: Defensive Tactics

MA Court Officer Training Academy

2022

The director of security at the academy that trains officers who serve in Massachusetts courts stepped down, after a report of an investigation looking into claims of abuse at the academy were released.

Jefferey Morrow was at the helm of the Massachusetts Court Officer Training Academy for eight years.

According to the report, five recruits in one academy class “were either struck in the face or strangled during defensive tactics training or ‘extra help’ sessions.”

Instructors were heard bragging about recruits getting kicked out including “a disabled recruit who did not pass…by one pushup,” the document lays out.

Massachusetts Police Academy Training

Police Academy Death’s on Boxing Training

A State Police recruit died after boxing. N.J. officials are now reviewing training for troopers.

State Police Recruit Lucas Homeijer, center, was a member of the 161st Trooper class. He died Dec. 1, 2020, after being injured while training. His father, retired Trooper Don Homeijer, is on the left. Lucas’ brother Jake is on the right.

Lucas C. Homeijer was boxing with a fellow recruit when he “lost consciousness,” officials said. He spent several days at a hospital before he died Tuesday.

Police Training Commission Training Overhaul

Retired troopers and a State Police spokesman told NJ Advance Media that boxing was a normal part of academy training. Recruits have been hospitalized before after fights, according to Lt. Jeffrey Flynn.

Officials conducted a “complete review” of the “active countermeasures block,” the training area where boxing was used, according to spokesman Peter Aseltine. The State Police suspended boxing at Sea Girt academy .

Police Training Commission Votes Unanimously to Support Statewide Police Licensure, Training Overhaul