A scandal involving a State Police homicide detective has led to finger-pointing between the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office and defense attorneys, raising questions about who knew the details of a fatal 2023 crash and why it took over two years for certain facts to surface.
At the center of the controversy is State Police Sergeant Scott Quigley, a veteran investigator who worked alongside prosecutors in the Middlesex DA’s office. In December 2023, Quigley was driving an unmarked cruiser in Woburn when he struck a wheelchair van head-on. Angelo Schettino, a passenger in that van, died from his injuries a month later.
While Quigley’s attorney maintains the crash was a “tragic accident,” newly disclosed hospital records from when Quigley was treated for injuries he sustained in the crash suggest that the detective was legally intoxicated at the time of the collision.
A Trial Halted
The allegations first surfaced publicly as a jury was being empaneled in a Lowell murder case where Quigley was set to testify. The judge halted the trial after Middlesex prosecutors revealed explosive allegations against their own lead investigator.
Chelmsford-based defense attorney William Dolan represents one of the Lowell murder defendants. He said the revelation is as much about the delay as it is about the crime. Dolan, who is calling for an independent investigation, claims that it is impossible for prosecutors to have been in the dark for so long.
“The prosecutors in the homicide unit worked with Quigley on an almost daily basis,” Dolan told 25 Investigates. “So they absolutely knew.”
Dolan points to a paper trail he says should have triggered alarms years ago. Quigley’s hospital records were submitted for his injured on-duty claim, and the Massachusetts Disabled Person’s Protection Commission (DPPC) notified the DA’s office of Schettino’s death on February 16th 2024. The DPPC referral does not name Quigley, nor does it allege alcohol was involved in the crash that killed him.
The Timeline Dispute
Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan has moved to distance her office from the controversy, placing the blame on the Massachusetts State Police (MSP). In a February 4th letter to MSP Colonel Geoffrey Noble, Ryan alleged that the department failed to notify her office of the crash or the allegations of alcohol use, despite Quigley being a key witness in multiple active homicide cases.
A spokesperson for DA Ryan provided a detailed statement to 25 Investigates, stating the office was blindsided just as a murder trial was beginning:
“On January 27, 2026, as the jury was being empaneled... the Massachusetts State Police disclosed to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office for the first time that a person had died following a motor vehicle crash involving Sergeant Quigley,” the statement read. “On that same date, MSP also provided, for the first time, information about Sergeant Quigley’s toxicology report.”
The DA’s office maintains that within 24 hours of receiving that information, they disclosed it to the court and referred the crash to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office for criminal investigation.
As for the 2024 DPPC referral regarding Schettino’s death, the spokesperson said the office “had no reason to begin a criminal investigation... until we learned, on January 27, 2026, that Mr. Schettino’s injuries were the result of potentially criminal conduct.”
Dolan finds the DA’s explanation difficult to accept. “These are the exact people that are meant to investigate deaths,” he said. “It was clear as day that the prosecutors in the case knew.”
The victim’s family is now left questioning the integrity of the system. “You or I would be in jail if it was me or you,” Lynn Schettino, the victim’s mother, previously told Investigative Reporter Ted Daniel.
District Attorney Ryan has now formally requested that MSP commission an independent investigation into why the information was withheld for more than two years.
State Police have declined to comment on the specifics of the DA’s letter, citing an ongoing internal review. Sergeant Quigley has since been suspended without pay and faces a criminal investigation. His lawyer maintains that the evidence will ultimately support the detective’s account of the events.
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