The Worcester NAACP has joined local civilian police oversight advocates in raising questions about the handling of City Councilor-at-Large Kathleen Toomey’s Sept. 2 car crash and calling for her to step aside from her leadership role on the city council’s Public Safety Committee.
Hours after the NAACP’s position became public Tuesday, Toomey announced that she’s temporarily stepping down from the committee and recuses herself from matters involving the Worcester Police Department until an internal investigation into officers’ handling of the crash is complete.
Fred Taylor, president of the Worcester branch of the NAACP, provided the Worcester Guardian with a letter sent to the organization’s membership Monday night and intended for Mayor Joseph Petty.
In the letter, Taylor raised concerns about the lack of field sobriety testing following the crash, portions of police body-camera footage that were muted and Toomey’s participation in a Sept. 8 city council debate over civilian police oversight while the circumstances of her crash remained under investigation and had not yet become public.
“It is particularly concerning that Councilor Toomey participated in council proceedings while an incident involving her own conduct and the actions of the Police Department remained unresolved,” Taylor wrote. “At a minimum, she should have recused herself from any discussions or votes related to police oversight.”
The city council voted 8-3 that night to reject a proposal to establish a civilian review board for the police department. Toomey voted with the majority against creating the board, arguing that Worcester should instead strengthen its existing oversight system that is “independent, transparent, timely and grounded in professional expertise.”
Toomey chairs the Standing Committee on Public Safety, a three-member committee whose jurisdiction includes the Police Department and other public safety agencies. The city’s website continued to list her as chair Tuesday.
Taylor asked Petty, who serves as mayor and chair of the City Council, to support calls for Toomey to temporarily leave the committee leadership position.
“We respectfully ask that you support this call and urge Councilor Toomey to temporarily step back from her leadership role on the Public Safety Committee while this matter is investigated,” Taylor wrote.
Toomey subsequently announced Tuesday that she would do so.
“In order to avoid any potential appearance of a conflict, I have decided to temporarily step down from the Public Safety Committee and recuse myself from any matter involving the Worcester Police Department until the investigation is over,” Toomey said in a statement provided to the Guardian.
Toomey also directly denied that she was impaired at the time of the crash.
“I was not in any way impaired and will face no charges,” she said.
The NAACP’s concerns follow a call Monday from the Worcester Civilian Review Board Coalition for an independent investigation into the crash and police response and for Toomey’s removal as chair of the Public Safety Committee.
Giselle Rivera-Flores, a member of the coalition, raised questions on the group’s behalf about why field sobriety testing was not conducted and why portions of officers’ body-camera recordings were muted.
The coalition also called for examination of Toomey’s requests at the scene to contact Police Chief Paul Saucier and Sgt. Anthony Petrone, questioning whether she attempted to use her position to obtain preferential treatment.
Worcester police are conducting their own internal investigation into that question.
Saucier previously told the Guardian that he personally ordered the investigation after learning of the crash. The department’s Bureau of Professional Standards is examining whether responding officers followed department policies and whether Toomey received preferential treatment.
Officers responded at approximately 12:03 a.m. Sept. 2 after Toomey’s vehicle struck an unoccupied vehicle. No injuries were reported, and both vehicles were towed.
Body-camera footage previously obtained by the Telegram & Gazette showed Toomey telling officers she “had an issue” while driving and later saying, “I was driving down the street and that’s all I remember.”
The footage also showed Toomey asking officers to contact Saucier and saying she was attempting to reach Petrone.
Campaign finance records filed with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance show Petrone has contributed $425 to Toomey’s campaign since 2015.
Saucier told the Guardian that he had no contact with Toomey during or immediately after the crash and, to his knowledge, neither Petrone nor another WPD supervisor did either. He said those questions will be formally addressed as part of the internal investigation.
Taylor said in his letter that the circumstances visible in reports and body-camera footage raised questions about why officers did not conduct additional impairment testing.
“There were several indicators that should have prompted further investigation,” Taylor wrote.
The Telegram previously reported that police said impairment was not suspected. Asked by the Guardian what observations led responding officers to that conclusion, Saucier declined to provide details while the internal investigation remains underway.
“Until all responding officers have been interviewed and the Bureau of Professional Standards completes the investigation, I cannot speak to their observations or assessments at the scene,” Saucier said.
Asked specifically whether Toomey was asked to perform field sobriety testing, Saucier similarly declined to discuss officers’ assessments while the review remains active. He said Worcester officers do not carry portable breathalyzer machines.
Taylor also questioned why officers muted their body cameras at points during the encounter, an issue also raised by the Civilian Review Board Coalition.
The Worcester Guardian has requested the complete body-camera recordings and police reports but has not yet received them and therefore has not independently determined why the recordings were muted or whether officers complied with department policy.
The coalition and NAACP have also pointed to a separate Worcester police response to a July crash involving UMass Chan police Lt. Gregory Markiewicz, who was subsequently charged with drunken driving, in arguing for greater independent police oversight.
The Guardian has not independently reviewed the complete records from the Markiewicz case and has not determined whether the circumstances of the two incidents are comparable.
Taylor said the questions surrounding the Toomey crash have implications for public confidence in police oversight.
“These repeated incidents continue to erode public confidence in the department’s ability to fairly and consistently enforce the law,” Taylor wrote.
Toomey said Tuesday that temporarily leaving the Public Safety Committee and recusing herself from police matters was intended to avoid any potential appearance of a conflict while the department’s investigation continues.
“I’m doing this out of an abundance of caution and to ensure that the work of our committee and the integrity of the Worcester Police Department remain above reproach,” Toomey said.
The Bureau of Professional Standards investigation remains ongoing.
Charlene Arsenault can be reached at carsenault@theworcesterguardian.org
