The Boston Police officer who reportedly violated division guidelines in a high-speed chase that killed three youngsters driving a suspected stolen automobile has resigned, elevating “serious questions about transparency and favoritism inside BPD,” an lawyer says.
Officer Triston Champagnie submitted his resignation from the division on July 28, with “charges pending,” in accordance with a police commissioner’s personnel order, dated Wednesday, that the Herald has obtained.
A BPD spokesperson has instructed the Herald that the “charges pending” relate to an “open investigation” that the division’s Inside Affairs Division is conducting into Champagnie misconduct allegations.
The officer, who graduated from the Police Academy in November 2022 and earned a complete of $111,387.05 in pay final 12 months, had been on paid administrative depart from the division earlier than resigning.
The division has not instantly responded to Herald inquiries searching for Champagnie’s resignation letter, if there’s one, and the standing of the inner affairs investigation.
In late June, Suffolk District Legal professional Kevin Hayden dropped firearms prices in opposition to a Dorchester man that stemmed from a June 2023 site visitors cease, with Champagnie concerned because the arresting officer.
The dismissal of the Joe Simmons Jr. case got here after the defendant’s lawyer, Zachary Cloud, stated the BPD had concluded its greater than year-long inside affairs investigation into Champagnie’s function within the January 2024 deadly high-speed pursuit that killed three youngsters on Dorchester’s Morrissey Boulevard.
In a nolle prosequi filed in Suffolk Superior Courtroom, on June 24, Assistant District Legal professional Danielle Madden acknowledged a “necessary and essential witness” within the Simmons case was “unavailable and likely to remain unavailable.”
“Based on that witness’s unavailability,” Madden acknowledged, “the Commonwealth cannot meet its burden to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The BPD declined a Herald request for information from the investigation into Champagnie’s misconduct allegations, citing the way it remained “ongoing” and was “pending a discipline hearing.”
“Disclosure of any responsive records would harm the disciplinary hearing of the Department,” a spokesperson acknowledged within the denial.
The BPD’s Bureau of Skilled Requirements discovered Champagnie had violated six division guidelines in the course of the deadly high-speed pursuit, together with one which requires officers to be truthful of their reviews, Cloud wrote in a court docket movement in June.
Per the Boston Globe, Champagnie, sitting within the passenger seat, and Officer Matthew Farley, the motive force, continued to pursue a suspected stolen car at a excessive velocity regardless of Champagnie’s acknowledgment of a supervisor’s command to “terminate.”
Three youngsters within the automobile, which reached speeds of 106 mph, died after they crashed, whereas a fourth occupant survived. A pistol was discovered inside
The DA’s workplace didn’t press felony prices in opposition to Champagnie and Farley.
Champagnie confronted a slew of different misconduct complaints, one stemming from a June 2023 incident, simply days earlier than Simmons’ arrest, with the officer “improperly handling a firearm,” inflicting it to discharge and injury property.
Champagnie’s father, Patrick Champagnie, holds a high-ranking place within the division as a sergeant detective, incomes $368,222.47 final 12 months, in accordance with metropolis payroll information.
One brother, additionally named Patrick, can be on the job, accumulating $231,979.64 in 2024. One other brother, Preston, made $70,560.16 from the BPD final 12 months.
“This resignation raises serious questions about transparency and favoritism inside BPD,” Cloud instructed the Herald on Thursday, “because it seems as if Commissioner (Michael) Cox delayed issuing any final punishment for months, allowing Triston Champagnie to leave on his own terms.”
“It’s hard to imagine that would have happened if Champagnie’s father weren’t a high-ranking officer and friend of the Commissioner,” the lawyer added. “There’s no way a regular officer in the same situation would have been given this benefit … which ultimately contributed to the senseless deaths of three teenagers.”
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