FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Three of four members of the Massachusetts State Police charged in connection with the September 2024 training death of an academy recruit are expected to face a judge on Thursday afternoon.
Sgt. Jennifer Penton, Trooper Edwin Rodriguez, and Trooper David Montanez are slated to be arraigned at 2 p.m. in Worcester Superior Court on involuntary manslaughter charges stemming from the death of Enrique Delgado-Garcia, who passed away following a boxing exercise at the Massachusetts State Police Academy in New Braintree.
A fourth individual, Casey LaMonte, is scheduled to be arraigned on April 14. Special prosecutor David Meier first announced indictments against all of the troopers on Feb. 9.
Sources familiar with the investigation told Boston 25 that Delgado-Garcia was sparring with another trainee when he stumbled and fell to the mat, then stood back up and continued the exercise. He later collapsed after taking a blow to the head.
Investigators were told Delgado-Garcia suffered multiple injuries, including broken bones, missing teeth, and a spinal injury. Sources emphasized that there is no indication he was targeted during the training.
An independent investigation determined that the four defendants allowed “unsupervised, unauthorized, and unapproved” boxing drills to take place.
Following Delgado-Garcia’s death, the troopers involved in the exercise were suspended without pay.
In the aftermath, Massachusetts State Police announced a series of reforms at the academy, including breaking recruits into smaller training cohorts, bringing in new academy leadership, and conducting an hour‑by‑hour review of the training curriculum.
State police also suspended the full‑contact boxing training program.
The case remains under investigation.
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