A State Police sergeant accused of causing the death of a Special Olympian while allegedly driving a cruiser drunk took home eight months of injury pay — over $80,000 — following the crash, according to a Herald public records request.
Sgt. Scott Quigley crashed head-on into a wheelchair van on Dec. 12, 2023 in Woburn, injuring 37-year-old Angelo Schettino who died in the hospital a month later.
At the time, Quigley, who was also injured in the crash, was issued a marked lanes violation, a police report noted. But a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the State Police by Schettino’s family uncovered Quigley’s medical records from the night of the crash and his alleged blood alcohol level of .11. The legal limit is .08.
When asked if the department would seek the injury payment back, if Quigley was convicted of any crime or found liable in association with the crash, State Police spokesperson Tim McGuirk told the Herald, “It would be premature to comment on what steps the Department will take in this case prior to the outcome of the ongoing investigations.”
Quigley’s lawyer Christina Ronan has said that her client is not criminally liable for the crash, the Herald previously reported, and asked “that the public allow the investigation to proceed fairly and without speculation.”
According to Quigley’s attendance and overtime sheet, he is noted as working five hours the day of the crash with three hours of personal time.
The Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office, where Quigley was embedded as a homicide investigator, disclosed earlier this month that Quigley was allegedly drinking with another State Police officer at a bar near the Superior Court before the crash, according to an office employee. The day after the crash, Dec. 13, 2023, Quigley started to receive “injured line of duty” pay and continued to do so until Aug. 20, 2024, according to his wage documents.
During that time, he appeared to receive several regular pay wage increases, going from $4,259.42 per bi-weekly pay period in December 2023 to $4,722.19 per paycheck by the time he went back to active duty.
In 2024, when Quigley spent most of the year out injured, he earned $136,210.41, down from the previous and following years, when he took home more than $142,000 and $174,000 respectively.
Quigley’s pay record shifted back to “regular pay” on Aug. 21, 2024 until he was suspended with pay on Jan. 29 of this year, after the disclosure of the drunk driving accusations in court. Then, following a duty status hearing, Quigley was suspended without pay as of noon on Feb. 6.
Although the wrongful death suit, filed in Essex Superior Court, initially uncovered the allegations, Quigley’s medical records were placed under seal. It wasn’t until the beginning of February, after the Middlesex DA’s office said they became aware of the accusation, that it was brought up in open court during a murder trial Quigley was set to testify for.
The disclosure has paused the trial of brothers Billoeum, Billy, and Channa Phan, who are accused of murdering Tyrone Phet in Lowell in 2020. Their trial is set to resume in June, with the judge in the case hoping that they may have the results of a Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office investigation into the 2023 crash by then.
The Supreme Judicial Court is currently reviewing whether or not the brothers should be granted bail after the Middlesex DA challenged a Superior Court judge’s ruling that they should. The judge had set their bail at $25,000 each with home confinement, GPS monitoring, and other conditions because of the delays caused by the Quigley allegations disclosure.
In addition to the Suffolk investigation, the Middlesex DA and State Police have both initiated independent reviews into their handling of the crash. The State Police have also begun an internal affairs investigation into several personnel involved.
Original article
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