FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Fallout continues from an arrest report scandal involving Massachusetts State Police after the deputy superintendent announced his retirement following the abrupt retirement of Col. Richard McKeon last week.
Boston 25 News was the first to report the retirement of Lt. Col. Francis Hughes on Tuesday. He has been with Mass. State Police for 31 years.
MORE: Second-in-command of Mass. State Police retires amid lawsuits
In a statement to Boston 25 News, state police said that it’s tradition for the number two in command to leave when the top cop does.
Traditionally, when a Colonel/Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police leaves his or her position, the Deputy Superintendent resigns as well to allow a new Colonel to select a second-in-command of his or her own choosing. As such, Deputy Superintendent Francis Hughes today retired from the State Police after a 31-year career. Deputy Superintendent Hughes served honorably in numerous postings, including nearly 20 years in the Gang Unit, an important period at the State Police Academy, and several years as a deputy commander in the Division of Investigative Services. He is a past recipient of the Trooper George L. Hanna Medal of Honor for Bravery and the Trooper of the Year Award. The department has deep gratitude for his years of dedicated service.
But, the president of the State Police Union said just a night earlier that the union had triggered an internal affairs investigation.
That comes a week after two troopers filed a federal lawsuit claiming they were ordered to change a police report to remove embarrassing details about the arrest of a judge’s daughter.
“I think it’s unfortunate that your career had to end like this,” Attorney Lenny Kesten said. “But actions have consequences. You can’t push around the trooper just because you’re the colonel.”
Kesten said retirements will not stop the lawsuits. He said he plans to subpoena the entire chain of command to get to the bottom of who knew what, and who ordered who do to what.
Troopers Ali Rei and Ryan Sceviour both say they were forced to make changes to reports after an October DUI arrest of Alli Bibaud, the daughter of a Dudley District Court judge.
Originally state police said the changes were in-line with protocol because the initial reports contained unnecessary, graphic comments that were not relevant to the arrest.
“The courage shown by the troopers are amazing. They both said we aren’t going to obey these orders. We are going to stand up for what’s right,” Kesten said.
Boston 25 News learned Tuesday that the state police union triggered an internal investigation on Monday.
“All of a sudden, everybody put in their retirement papers,’ State Police Union President Dana Pullman said. “I can only speculate if the internal investigation affairs triggers some things in our internal policy.”
PREVIOUS:
State Police Union: Colonel McKeon may have broken law when he retired
Mass. State Police Colonel retires amid lawsuits over revised report
Second trooper files lawsuit against MSP related to altered reports
Vulgar statement removed from arrest report of local judge's daughter
Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/U3KVMHHAJRDSPC7W4IORI5TYPM.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/IUXKP5FHYVG4TF2QDU4XBXFDXA.JPG)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/GT7NQWKTJRDRLEQ6SBPWVXRHME.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/UEERKPPPSJBMRBIFG5PERZDPAY.jpeg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/JVC2BQYZFJHAPPIQDT56KQFSSI.png)