Gov. Maura Healey did not immediately say if the Massachusetts State Police should pause training activities at their academy days after a recruit suffered injuries there and died, and instead urged people not to “jump to conclusions.”
At an unrelated event outside the State House Tuesday, Healey said the death of Enrique Delgado-Garcia, who died after suffering a “medical crisis” during a boxing training exercise, was heartbreaking.
But the first-term Democrat declined to comment on the injuries Delgado-Garcia reportedly sustained and who should take over the investigation into his death after Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early said his office would step aside because of the recruit’s prior service as a victim witness advocate.
Healey said “people need to not jump to conclusions” when asked if there should be a pause in training activities at the State Police Academy while an investigation into the incident plays out.
“I think that’s important until we know the facts,” she said. “That class, actually, they’re about to wrap up training. In fact, there’d be a graduation ceremony in just a few weeks. But we’re going to make sure that the matter is thoroughly reviewed and we understand exactly what happened.”
At a press conference Monday, Early declined to detail who would take over the investigation into Delgado-Garcia’s death, only saying the person would “not have a stake” in its outcome and that he had spoken to four entities who might take control of the probe.
Early said his office has jurisdiction over the case and will decide who the investigation is handed off to. He said he does not want to give the case to another district attorney’s office.
“I don’t think that would be fair to my fellow DAs. They all have state police detective units. They all have a chain of command. I’m looking for someone who can look at this with an independent view, who doesn’t have a stake in its outcome,” he said.
Delgado-Garcia was a member of the 90th Recruit Training Troop and came to the agency after serving as a victim witness advocate in the Worcester County Attorney’s Office.
The details around Delgado-Garcia’s death are limited, though Early said the incident in the boxing ring was captured on video.
Authorities said Delgado-Garcia, 25, died at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester after being injured at the State Police New Braintree training center.
“Despite the heroic efforts of medical professionals to deliver lifesaving care, Trainee Delgado-Garcia died at the hospital,” the law enforcement agency said in a statement.
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