A “hammered” Westboro police chief was discovered slumped over in his unmarked cruiser in a liquor store parking lot with two empty or “mostly empty” bottles of Tito’s vodka, which alarmed neighboring officers who called in medics and backup.
Shrewsbury superior officers were told to “step on it” and come to the scene: “It’s the Chief of Police for Westborough and he was hammered drunk and has a firearm on him,” an officer tells a lieutenant upon arrival.
No gun was ever seen — the Tito’s was.
“One (bottle) appeared empty and was sticking out of a black plastic bag and the other did not have the cap on and was laying on the (car) seat and appeared to be mostly empty,” a Shrewsbury police report states.
Westboro Chief Todd Minardi’s eyes were “red, blood shot and glassy. His speech was slow, slurred and a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage was coming from his breath.”
He is charged with one citation for “open container of alcohol,” the police say, and has been placed on administrative leave. Minardi has not been charged with drunk driving. The keys were not in the ignition, according to the police report.
The 13-page tick-tock of Minardi’s ordeal outside the liquor store on a busy Route 9 in a neighboring town late last week shows a top cop in an alleged “hammered” binge that lasted for days that alarmed his family, fellow officers and UMass Medical medics.
He had no gun, was not driving the town-issued Ford Explorer unmarked cruiser with “ghost plates,” yet medics forced him to seek help.
When police asked Minardi how many quarters make up a dollar, “Todd paused and struggled with answering and stated 25,” police note.
He was first seen at Star Liquor on Route 9 in Shrewsbury on Wednesday, Oct. 21, buying a 750 ml bottle of Tito’s vodka, “a lottery ticket, pays cash and leaves at 8:20 a.m.,” police state. He hides the bottle “under his jacket” and does not return until the next day at 9:05 a.m., when he “walks directly to the Tito’s and purchases a bottle of 750 ml and pays by credit card,” police say after studying the liquor store’s video.
The chief is seen wearing the “exact same clothes” during both vodka purchases, and he is discovered slumped over in his cruiser on Friday, Oct. 23, after an employee called police fearing he was dead “or suffering a medical emergency.” The same series of police reports notes that a medic informed officers the chief’s wife just called to say Minardi had been missing for “two days.”
The report adds: “We told her that it appears he has been sitting in the car since yesterday (Thursday) right here in the parking lot.”
A Shrewsbury Police “dispatch incident detail” states that police arrived at Star Liquor just after noon that Friday for a man “sleeping in MV since yesterday. Male party transported to UMass (Medical). MV will be staying in the lot.”
Westboro is “looking into the matter” with an “outside investigator,” the town has said in a statement. Deputy Police Chief Steve Tompkins has assumed command.
The open container count carries a $500 fine, police state. Minardi is paid a $215,545 annual salary.
The liquor store is in the same plaza as the Scrub-a-Dub car wash on Route 9 and other businesses that police used to assemble the video evidence. In a sad note, one business owner reached by phone told police he would help with video but needed time because his son “had just died.”
Two UMass EMS medics responded to the call. Minardi told them all, “I’m sorry.”
Colleen Cronin contributed.
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