Former Massachusetts State Police recruit says he was hazed, harassed at academy
BOSTON - For a former Massachusetts State Police recruit, photos showing him wearing an academy uniform are all that's left of his dream. Giovani JN Baptiste told WBZ-TV's I-Team that it's sad; since he came to this country, he has always wanted to be a state trooper.
The state police dismissed the Haitian immigrant from the academy six weeks before graduation. Enrique Delgado-Garcia was his carpool buddy and his classmate. Delgado-Garcia died last week after sources say he was seriously injured during a boxing training exercise.
"Delgado was a really, really good kid helping me, helping everybody," Baptiste told WBZ.
Former recruit alleges hazing, harassment
Baptiste says he was subjected to hazing and harassment from his second week of training, though he does not know what happened to his friend.
"For people like me or people like Delgado, Spanish or Black, it's really hard," the former recruit told the I-Team. "They make it really hard for you."
Hard because, he says, he was picked on nearly every day, starting first thing in the morning when instructors would have the other trainees go to his room and yell "go home."
"Imagine like 180 people telling you go home; you know, go home you don't deserve to be here," Baptiste said. "It was a lot for me."
An Army Reservist, he survived boot camp and four years in the military. But he says the State Police Academy experience was more like a college fraternity hazing instead of elite law enforcement training.
He said he was told to lay on the floor on his stomach in uniform and sweep the floor using his body.
"Trooper telling me he would do everything in his power, to not graduate, because I don't deserve to be here," Baptiste said.
Counting bricks while other trainees slept
Instructors gave him sweatpants and a red marker to color in his whole pair of pants, Baptiste said. They also gave him a notebook and told him to count all the bricks on the wall, activities that would take him nearly all night while other trainees slept.
"I know before the academy, I heard you had to be mentally prepared, physically prepared. I was physically and mentally prepared. I was prepared for training. I wasn't prepared for that stuff," Baptiste told the I-Team.
His young family sacrificed for weeks so he could realize his dream. His wife, a mental health professional, is also in the military.
"We came here for him to want to do better, and you get there, and you're faced with being humiliated, being discriminated," his wife told WBZ. "You're being put down to a level you have never experienced before. Training is training. I'm in the military. I know boot camp, training is training. You have to teach your trainees how to protect themselves out there. But there's nowhere it says in the book that you need to break someone down so low to where they can't study, they can't pass a common sense exam."
His last day at the academy was August 23. He still remembers what Delgado said when he dropped him off.
"I know what you have been going through. For 18 weeks. You're OK. I hope you are going to take care of your life and everything," Baptiste said.
State Police deny allegations
A spokesperson for the Massachusetts State Police said the agency, "does not tolerate any form of hazing, discrimination, or misconduct, and we thoroughly investigate any allegation of such behavior."
"The individual with whom you spoke was dismissed from the 90th Recruit Training Troop last month and is not permitted to reapply to the MSP," the State Police spokesperson said.
"Privacy laws prevent the Department from commenting further on any details of the trainee's dismissal, however, the Department vehemently denies the allegations."