Massachusetts State Police suspend full contact boxing between trainees in wake of recruit's death
WORCESTER - The Massachusetts State Police are officially suspending full contact boxing training activities between trainees until further notice after the death of a recruit earlier this month.
Injured in boxing exercise
Massachusetts State Police recruit Enrique Delgado-Garcia died Sept. 13 at the age of 25. The department swore him in as a trooper in the final hours of his life with classmates present, ensuring he receives all the benefits of an official member of the department.
WBZ-TV I-Team sources confirmed Delgado-Garcia was injured during a boxing exercise and knocked out for 10 minutes. He was rushed to a local hospital but did not survive.
"I did talk to several people about taking over this matter on Friday, I'm not going to get into who they are," said Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early.
Boxing training halted
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said the decision to halt boxing training activities was the correct one.
"Absolutely. And as I understand it, that was done immediately. The boxing program was stopped immediately," Healey told reporters on Monday. "The colonel has undertaken a review of all the defensive tactics programs. One of the things I'm going to ask the new colonel to do is to undertake an independent review of all of the academy's programs and trainings. My goal is to make sure that we have in place the very best in terms of training for the sake of all recruits."
Calls for investigation
Early promised an outside investigation. While it's unclear who will take over the case, the State Police have promised full cooperation and action. On Sunday, the department said it had suspended full contact boxing training activities between trainees and will review the academy's defensive tactics program.
"You are in an environment where it's a boxing contest and at that time, you're defending yourself as well as you're being offensively minded," said former State Police instructor Todd McGhee, days after Delgado Garcia's death. He said the tragedy never should have happened.
"The instructions shouldn't be to knock your fellow trainee's head off their shoulders, that's not the objective," he told WBZ.
Delgado-Garcia's funeral is scheduled for Saturday in his hometown of Worcester. State Police said they are offering Delgado-Garcia's family full support during the wake and burial of their son.
"What needs to happen though is there needs to be the appointment of an investigator to conduct the investigation because the family needs answers about what happened to Enrique," Healey said. "I support anything to move this forward. It's been a week. The family is anxious for answers. This is a terrible tragedy and we need to get to the bottom of it. So whatever that looks like, whatever it takes, it needs to happen. Because time is of the essence."