WOBURN — An independent investigation ordered by Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan has found no evidence that anyone in her office — aside from a single non‑investigative employee — knew of State Police Sgt. Scott Quigley’s alleged blood alcohol level in the aftermath of the 2023 crash that led to a motor vehicle homicide indictment.
But that employee said he not only had heard Quigley had been drunk at the time, but also had been told by police to keep a lid on that information.
The 13-page report, created by retired Superior Court Judge Thomas Drechsler, concludes that assistant district attorneys, victim advocates and administrative staff were unaware of any suggestion that Quigley had been drinking before the collision until the information surfaced during jury selection in the murder retrial for Lowell brothers Billy, Billoeum, and Channa Phan earlier this year.
The head‑on crash on Dec. 12, 2023, in Woburn — caused when Quigley, driving an unmarked cruiser, crossed the center line on Lexington Street — ultimately killed 37‑year‑old Angelino Schettino, a Special Olympian who died in the hospital about a month later.
“All interviewees appeared to be sincere, well-meaning, cognizant of their truthfulness obligation and ultimately credible,” Drechsler stated in the report. “In summary there is no evidence that any employee of the (DA’s Office) was aware of the details related to the MVA or any evidence of alcohol related thereto in the immediate aftermath of the MVA.”
The probe included 34 interviews with current and former Middlesex prosecutors and staff, as well as a review of emails, Disabled Persons Protection Commission records, and State Police reports.
Drechsler noted that both Quigley and State Police Lt. Anthony DeLucia declined to be interviewed through counsel.
According to the findings, most employees only knew that Quigley had been seriously injured, hospitalized and expected to be out of work for an extended period as a result of the wreck.
“A few recall hearing that Sgt. Quigley may have fallen asleep or had a medical episode,” Drechsler wrote, adding that most were not even aware a second motor vehicle was involved.
Only one interviewee reported hearing anything different about the wreck.
According to the report, Scott Sarsfield, the DA’s director of operations and security, told Drechsler that sometime in the spring or summer of 2024, DeLucia told him that he “had heard that Sgt. Quigley was a ‘0.11’” at the time of the crash and stated, “‘I think he met ‘Tino’ at Teresa’s’” before the wreck.
Teresa’s is a bar and restaurant near Middlesex Superior Court where Quigley was alleged to have been drinking before the crash.
Sarsfield said he believed Tino to be another member of the State Police Detectives Unit.
According to the findings, Sarsfield was also told by DeLucia “don’t repeat that.” Sarsfield also said DeLucia said at one point, “What we talked about, take that to the grave.”
Sarsfield assumed that if a superior officer in the State Police Detective Unit knew this information, “the proper notifications had been made and that anyone who needed to know was informed.”
He did not disclose the conversation until March 2026, after the Phan trial disclosures and a court‑ordered internal search for documents.
The review also examined a DPPC notification sent to the DA’s office in February 2024.
“The DPPC documents do not identify the operator of any motor vehicle involved in the MVA,” Drechsler wrote. “There is no reference to ‘Sgt. Quigley’, ‘Scott Quigley’, or any police officer involved in MVA in the DPPC documents. In fact, there is no reference to the identity of any party alleged to have been at fault in the MVA.”
That report also did not mention alcohol and did not identify the correct city of the crash, listing the “setting” as Medford instead of Woburn.
Further, it did not identify any operator of either vehicle and stated that the cause of Schettino’s death was “unknown.”
The homicide ADA who received the DPPC report cross‑checked it against the office’s “serious/fatal” crash spreadsheet and found no matching entry, because the crash had never been reported to the ADA on call that week.
With no reference to State Police involvement, no indication of alcohol, and no suggestion of a potentially fatal collision, the DPPC report gave prosecutors no reason to suspect the crash required further review.
But the findings state that such a notification should have occurred through the established protocol for serious crashes.
“There was clearly a practice in place prior to and at the time of the MVA through which the MSP and local police departments are required to contact the (Middlesex District Attorney’s Office) in the event of any MVA which is fatal, potentially fatal, or involved serious bodily injury,” Drechsler said.
Police agencies are provided with a 24‑hour number to reach an ADA, and the ADA on duty is required to log every serious crash. But the ADA assigned that week, Mary O’Neill, produced the notification emails and spreadsheet entries for the period of Dec. 10-17, 2023. None concerned a motor vehicle crash involving Quigley.
O’Neill “credibly denied receiving any such notification,” the findings state, and the homicide ADA and others on the list likewise “credibly denied ever receiving any notice from the MSP or Woburn PD regarding the Quigley MVA.”
When Drechsler reviewed the State Police crash reports, he found they would not have alerted prosecutors to the seriousness of the crash.
The reports listed the other vehicle’s occupants as having “Injury Status: Suspected Minor Injury” and stated, as to Quigley, “Driver Susp. Alcohol: No, alcohol not used.”
Because Quigley was not charged with any crime at the time — he was only issued a civil citation warning for a motor vehicle infraction — no prosecutor would have been assigned, and all interviewees denied ever seeing the reports until they were produced under court order in the Phan case, according to Drechsler.
The findings state the first time any prosecutor learned of the alleged blood alcohol level was Jan. 27, when State Police Detective Lt. William Donoghue informed First ADA Steven Loughlin. Loughlin then relayed the information to ADA David Brant — one of the prosecutors in the Phan case — who disclosed it to defense counsel and the presiding judge, halting the trial and leading to a cascade of additional revelations.
Drechsler noted that the review reflects only the information available to him — he did not have access to State Police personnel or Suffolk County investigators, both of whom are conducting their own probes.
The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office said in a statement on Wednesday that they have provided the full report, interview recordings, and all reviewed documents to the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office, which continues to investigate the crash and its initial handling by State Police.
The report has also been sent to the defense team representing the Phan brothers, the attorneys for Schettino’s family, the State Police, and counsel in any case where Quigley or DeLucia may be witnesses.
Quigley, who has been suspended without pay, was indicted out of Suffolk County on the motor vehicle homicide charge late last month and is awaiting arraignment.
The retrial of the Phan brothers — charged with first-degree murder in the 2020 shooting death of 22-year-old Tyrone Phet outside his Lowell home — remains hanging in the balance, with a status conference scheduled for June in Middlesex Superior Court.
Follow Aaron Curtis on X @aselahcurtis, or on Bluesky @aaronscurtis.bsky.social
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