Mass State Police hire firm to independently review fatal 2023 cruiser crash

The Massachusetts State Police hired an outside firm to review how the agency handled a fatal cruiser crash involving an allegedly drunk officer more than two years after the incident occurred.

State Police Sgt. Scott Quigley is accused of having a blood alcohol level above the legal limit when he crashed his cruiser head-on into a wheelchair van in Dec. 2023, causing injuries to one of its occupants, Angelo Schettino, who later died.

The allegations came to light in a wrongful death suit that Schettino’s family originally filed in Essex County against the van company that now includes the Mass State Police.

The revelation has sent ripples through the state, pausing the Lowell murder trial of brothers Billy, Channa, and Billoeum Phan earlier this month. Quigley had been a key investigator in the case when he was embedded with the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office.

Middlesex DA Marian Ryan had asked the State Police to initiate the independent investigation after learning about the fatality in the crash and Quigley’s alleged blood alcohol level in January, more than two years after the incident.

“In the interest of transparency and in order to promote public confidence — and to ensure justice for any potential victims — I am requesting that you immediately appoint an independent investigator to conduct a full and fair inquiry into why no notification was made to this office,” she wrote in a Feb 4 letter to State Police Colonel Geoffrey Noble.

In Nobel’s reply, dated Feb. 20, he wrote that investigators from the national firm 21CP Solutions will conduct the review, “focused on the handling of this incident and the internal policies and controls that should have ensured timely awareness and notification.”

The independent investigators will examine how the MSP currently handles serious on-duty incidents, including their notification process, supervisor response, and documentation policies.

“A serious incident resulting in the loss of life demands timely notification, rigorous oversight and complete accountability,” Noble wrote. “Any deviation from these expectations is unacceptable, falls short of public expectations and risks undermining confidence in the justice system.”

At the end of the review, the investigators will recommend changes to training, policy, and procedure.

The review will run parallel to a Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office investigation into Quigley, examining whether the officer will face criminal charges linked to the crash.

In addition to the independent review, Noble noted that MSP also initiated “internal affairs investigations involving specific individuals.”

“We have also launched refresher training on serious-injury and fatal-crash protocols, escalation responsibilities, and documentation and recording standards,” the colonel wrote, “and strengthened conflict-of-interest screening for incidents involving MSP personnel with cross-agency assignments or relationships.”