Mass. Cop Allegedly Covered-up
Ex-Trooper's Crash
One of the three Haverhill officers suspended without pay is facing
another unpaid suspension and possible termination for failing to properly
investigate crash involving a state trooper.
HAVERHILL --
Charles Noyes isn't the first retired state trooper involved in an automobile
accident to get special consideration from Haverhill police.
One of the
three Haverhill officers suspended without pay for his role in the Noyes case
is facing another unpaid suspension and possible termination for failing to
properly investigate a 2005 hit-and-run automobile accident involving another
retired high-ranking state trooper.
A new police
investigation has found that Sgt. Harry Miller conducted a suspect
investigation and violated several department rules in his handling of a
February 2005 accident in which an ex-trooper named Paul Regan crashed his
white Mercury into another vehicle at the intersection of Route 110 and Forest
Street and then fled the scene.
Regan, who
lives in Rowley, retired in 2003 as a lieutenant colonel with a $110,472-a-year
pension. He could not be reached for comment.
The new
investigation by Haverhill Lieutenant Anthony Haugh found that Miller changed
the nature of Regan's 2005 accident on police paperwork from a hit-and-run to a
"regular" motor vehicle accident. The report says Miller declined to
charge Regan with a crime after meeting with an unidentified state trooper from
the Newbury barracks less than one hour after the accident. The meeting took
place in a Haverhill shopping mall, according to Haugh's report.
Police said
Miller told them he could not recall the name of the trooper who came to meet
him and that he did not write it down anywhere or document the meeting in any
way.
"Officer
Harry Miller's report gives absolutely no justification for the use of such
discretion for not issuing Mr. Paul Regan a citation for leaving the scene of
an accident because it was so poorly written," the internal investigative
report said. "Officer Miller's scant report leaves more questions than
answers, and contains little or no pertinent information with regards to
operator's statements or any information received from the sergeant of the
state police with whom he met or even the sergeant's name for that
matter."
David
Procopio, a state police spokesman, said the agency is looking into the
allegations in the Haverhill police report and declined further comment.
Miller, who
was a patrolman in 2005, did not return a phone message left for him at the
police station seeking comment for this story.
Haugh's
report said police were unable to determine whether Miller contacted Regan
about the accident. In a formal interview with Haugh at the police station last
month, Miller told investigators he could not recall ever meeting or even
speaking to Regan about the accident, according to the report.
"While
the officer cannot recall speaking to Mr. Regan, it is apparent that no
follow-up was conducted by Officer Miller to confirm that Paul Regan was in
fact the actual operator of the vehicle involved in the accident or why Mr.
Regan contacted an agency he was no longer employed by, as Paul Regan retired
from the Massachusetts State Police on 2003," Haugh's report said.
Haverhill
police learned about the Regan accident and how it was handled by Miller during
its investigation of how the department handled the Noyes case. Miller was the
ranking Haverhill officer at the scene of the March 30 Noyes accident.
The Noyes
investigation concluded that the former state police deputy superintendent was
given special treatment by West Newbury and Haverhill police officers due to
his previous position. The probe found that officers declined to arrest Noyes
or charge him with drunk driving even though they had enough evidence and that
reports by officers were so poorly written that prosecutors could not charge
Noyes with drunk driving.
Investigators found that officers who were directly
involved in the Noyes incident filed incomplete or inaccurate reports that,
among other problems, failed to mention that all the officers on the scene and
ambulance personnel believed Noyes was intoxicated. Noyes' lawyer pointed to
those reports in suggesting there was no evidence that his client had been
drinking alcohol prior to crashing his Cadillac Escalade in West Newbury and
then fleeing the scene, with his airbags deployed, until his mangled vehicle
came to a stop in Haverhill. Noyes eventually was sentenced to six months of
unsupervised probation after admitting there were sufficient facts to find him
guilty of negligent driving and leaving the scene of an accident that caused
property damage.
Noyes, who
lives in Haverhill, retired in 2006 as deputy superintendent with a $116,659 pension.
He is currently director of Public Safety at Wentworth Institute of Technology
in Boston.
Miller, Lt.
William Leeman and patrolman Christopher Pagliuca have been suspended for five
days by Haverhill police Chief Alan DeNaro for their roles in the Noyes case.
Miller and Leeman have appealed additional punishment recommended by DeNaro to
Mayor James Fiorentini. A civil service hearing on the appeals is expected to
be held this month. The maximum punishment the police chief can impose is a
five-day suspension.
Haverhill's
investigation of the Regan case says Miller responded at 8:15 p.m. on Feb. 2,
2005, to a call for a hit-and-run accident with property damage at the
intersection of River and Forest streets.
According to
police reports, a witness followed Regan as he fled from the scene and
eventually relayed his license plate number to police. Another witness told
police he was "stunned" to see Regan's vehicle drive away from the
accident before police arrived. When they were contacted by Haugh for his new
investigation, both those witnesses told Haugh that police never contacted them
for follow-up interviews.
The driver
of the other vehicle involved in the accident told Haugh that she was struck
from behind by Regan's vehicle and that Regan "took off" after
hitting her, the report said.
The victim
also told Haugh that she remembers being told by Regan's insurance company that
Regan told its claims agents that he was taking cough syrup at the time of the
accident, according to Haugh's report.
In a May 7
interview with police, Miller told investigators he was dispatched about an
hour after the 2005 accident to meet a state trooper in the Westgate Plaza
regarding the accident he was investigating.
"Sergeant
Miller stated that he met with a sergeant from the state police barracks who
wanted to relay that one of his troopers (Paul Regan) called the barracks to
report that he was involved in an accident in Haverhill; and to call Haverhill
(police) and let them know his information, and he did not stop because he was
feeling ill," Haugh's report said. "According to Sergeant Miller,
that is when he learned that Paul Regan was a state trooper."
Miller told
police he decided not charge Regan with leaving the scene of an accident after
speaking with the state trooper.
According to
Haugh's report, Miller decided not to charge Regan, "because Mr. Regan
contacted the state police barracks to, in turn contact the Haverhill Police
Department on his behalf, and because a sergeant from the state police
contacted him, making Paul Regan known to us, coupled with finding the troopers
and the information to be credible at the time.
Miller told
investigators, "I used my discretion not to charge Mr. Regan with leaving
the scene. I thought it was a reasonable explanation." Haugh's report
said.
Haugh's
report stresses that Regan was no longer a state trooper at the time of the
accident. The report also says Miller decided on his own to switch the call
from a hit-and-run to "a regular accident."
"Because
the sergeant came to me face to face and gave me an explanation, that's why I
did not charge Mr. Regan," Miller told investigators.