WOBURN, Mass. — New court filings in the criminal case against former Massachusetts State Police Detective Scott Quigley reveal fellow troopers knew he had been drinking before a fatal 2023 crash and kept that information to themselves.
The explosive details come from paperwork filed by a special prosecutor in Middlesex Superior Court, where in April Quigley pleaded not guilty to felony motor vehicle homicide in connection with a Dec. 12, 2023, head-on collision on Lexington Street in Woburn. The crash killed 37-year-old wheelchair van passenger Angelo Schettino of Saugus.
“If these guys knew and didn’t say anything, obviously there’s a cover-up,” said Lynn-based attorney Michael Mahoney.
He represents Schettino’s mother in her $25 million wrongful death lawsuit against Quigley and the Massachusetts State Police.
According to filings, Quigley, then a homicide detective assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, drank two martinis at Teresa’s Restaurant & Bar near the DA’s office before heading home in his unmarked State Police Ford Escape. State Police later determined Quigley was traveling 59 mph in a 35-mph zone before crossing into the path of an oncoming van. Schettino died a month later from internal injuries sustained in the crash, according to the state medical examiner.
Quigley was also injured. Blood drawn from him showed his blood alcohol content was between 0.095 and 0.10 percent. Previous reporting listed his serum alcohol level as his BAC.
The filing states: “Blood drawn from Quigley at the hospital about an hour after the crash showed a serum alcohol level of 0.114, which translated to a blood alcohol content of 0.095 to 0.10 percent.” The legal BAC limit in Massachusetts is 0.08.
As 25 Investigates previously reported, members of Quigley’s own detective unit visited him at the hospital the evening he was admitted. They denied noticing any signs of impairment and denied ever inquiring about his whereabouts before the crash, according to Middlesex Special ADA Ian Polumbaum.
“Members of the unit who knew or learned he had been drinking kept this knowledge to themselves at least for months,” Polumbaum wrote. “The present prosecution team is not responsible for the shortcomings of the initial investigation, whether they occurred by design (to protect a fellow officer) or not.”
The initial investigation was assigned to then-Sgt. Jennifer Penton, who had “inexperience in collision investigation.”
Penton took photos of the scene but did not call in reconstruction experts, conduct in-depth inspections or review digital data from the two vehicles.
She interviewed Quigley a week later, accepted his explanation that he was tired and felt dizzy, and ruled he was only partially at fault because of a “medical episode.” Quigley was issued a written warning for a lane violation, and the case was initially closed.
Penton has since been indicted on unrelated manslaughter and perjury charges in connection with the 2024 death of a State Police academy recruit and has asserted her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination in Quigley’s case.
Quigley’s defense continues to maintain that the collision was an accident and there was no cover-up.
“There is going to be a day when Scott Quigley is going to have to speak with us. He’s going to be deposed under oath, and we’re going to find out what happened that night,” Mahoney said.
State Police suspended Quigley without pay in February.
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