(Photo courtesy of Boston Herald) “Enrique Delgado-Garcia”
James Guiry
Connector Staff
Enrique Delgado-Garcia was a 25-year-old Massachusetts State Police recruit whose life was taken during a training exercise. On Sept. 12, 2024, the MA State Police recruits participated in a full-contact boxing exercise. The exercise was supposed to focus on defense tactics. Sandra Garcia, Delgado-Garcia’s mother, and her family spoke with NBC10 Boston and Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra about the incident. According to Garcia, through NBC10 Boston, “Delgado-Garcia was hit in the head and lost consciousness… that all of her son’s teeth were broken and that he had bruises on his body”. Delgado-Garcia succumbed to his injuries and died in the hospital a day later, on Sept. 13, 2024. His class is set to graduate on Oct. 9, and they will do so without him. Before his death, Delgado-Garcia was “pinned with his Trooper Badge,” according to the department spokesperson, Tim McGuirk, in a statement made after the incident.
Dr. Christopher Harris, Associate Professor in the School of Criminology and Justice Studies at UMass Lowell, was asked about this incident. When asked if the accident was something that occurred regularly around the country, Dr. Harris said he “would imagine it is extremely rare,” adding, “More often, they [recruits] cannot physically continue the academy due to injury or another issue, but even that is uncommon.” Some form of self-defense in police training will “always be present,” he said. Further commenting that policing can be a “dangerous job” and there will “always be times when police need to get hands-on with people.”
According to NBC Boston, Delgado-Garcia’s mother said, “That training is too brutal… I think that the police don’t go out to box, rather to try to help the community. It’s fine if a moment presents itself where they have to defend themselves, but they don’t need to implement so much aggression to those young men that it leads to the death of one of their own.” Dr. Harris was asked if this training could potentially lead to aggressive policing. He said that it certainly could. He explained the “warrior vs. guardian” mentality, the idea that some police academies can impose a hyper-vigilant “warrior mentality” on recruits by showing them body cam footage of officers being hurt or killed to emphasize officer safety. In contrast, “guardians” protect citizens’ rights and de-escalate first while maintaining civil liberties.
“Viewing every citizen as a threat can be dangerous. Officers need to know when to use physical force, and that is where the training comes in,” Dr. Harris said. He continued, “This type of training should be present in academies. There will always be people resisting arrest, innocent or guilty, and it is better for both parties for police to have some kind of training to protect the officer and the detainee.” Harris also commented that framing why they are being trained in physical combat is “imperative.” Delgado-Garcia’s family speculated foul play. When Dr. Harris was asked to comment, he stated, “The injuries were extreme and should, at the very least, raise some concern…the family deserves to know exactly what happened.” Finishing by stating that an independent investigation into the incident is good.
Finally, Dr. Harris was asked if stories like this would make fewer people want to become police at a time when academies all over the country are hurting for solid recruits. He did not know, speculating that the story is smaller nationally than in Massachusetts and that recruitment may be slow in the state. However, he said the Massachusetts State Police and Massachusetts government are “taking the proper steps” to “suspend full-contact boxing and get an independent investigation.”
Attorney David Meier will lead the investigation. According to Charlie McKenna of Masslive.com, “Dan Conley, a former Suffolk County District Attorney who was Meier’s boss for six years, called him a ‘top-notch lawyer’ and said his investigation would likely be transparent. Meier led the homicide unit while working for Conley, where he gave ‘victims and their families a voice.’” Meier has been a trial attorney for over 30 years and is the chair of Todd and Weld LLP’s Government Investigations and Criminal Defense Practice Group.
Garcia said that her family was worried for her son’s safety when he confessed his desire to join law enforcement. They did not think they had to fear for his safety around other police officers. According to NBC10 Boston, his family suspects “foul play” and has already gotten an attorney. His mother said Delgado-Garcia “always wanted to dedicate himself to helping others.”