WORCESTER – Worcester County District Attorney Joe Early Jr. announced on Monday that his office would not investigate the death of Massachusetts State Police trainee Enrique Delgado-Garcia.
Early said Delgado-Garcia worked in his office for around 18 months as a witness victim advocate and “was loved by everyone in our office.” He added that his office would not investigate the death because of that close relationship.
Delgado-Garcia left the district attorney’s office in April to join the Massachusetts State Police.
Early said that “someone without a stake in its outcome” would investigate, but he did not yet know who that would be.
The Worcester County District Attorney’s office has jurisdiction over the case. Early said his office would decide who investigates. Massachusetts State Police Detectives will continue to investigate the case until another investigator is identified.
As This Week in Worcester previously reported, Delgado-Garcia, 25, became unresponsive during a defensive tactics exercise inside a boxing ring at the state police training facility in New Braintree on Thursday. The on-site medical team at the facility determined Delgado-Garcia required urgent medical care and arranged for transport to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.
Early said medical personnel at UMass Medical Center pronounced Delgado-Garcia dead at 4:30 PM on Saturday, Sept. 13.
Members of Delgado-Garcia’s family said he suffered a broken neck, missing teeth, and severe brain damage. They “are now demanding accountability as well as an explanations to what went on inside the walls of the academy,” according to NBC 10 Boston,
Early said that he didn’t know the details of what led to Delgado-Garcia’s death, but that it happened inside a boxing ring and was videotaped.
Early also said that Delgado-Garcia’s family said his lifelong dream was being a state police officer.
Hear Early’s remarks below.
