State Police recruit dies after being injured while boxing at academy

BOSTON – A Massachusetts State Police recruit died “following a medical crisis suffered during a training exercise” at the academy in New Braintree, the agency said. The trainee, 25-year-old Enrique Delgado-Garcia, had been on life support at a Worcester hospital, according to I-Team sources. 
On Thursday, the I-Team reported that the trainee was critically injured during a boxing exercise, which is a regular part of state police training. Sources tell the I-Team the recruit was knocked out for nearly 10 minutes after getting hit in the head.
“On Thursday, September 12, Trainee Delgado-Garcia became unresponsive during a defensive tactics training exercise,” a spokesperson for the Massachusetts State Police said. “The Academy’s on-site medical team, which includes dedicated staff from UMass Medical, responded immediately and rendered aid. The medical team determined that Delgado-Garcia required urgent medical care and transported him via Ambulance to a local medical facility. Despite the heroic efforts of medical professionals to deliver lifesaving care, Trainee Delgado-Garcia died at the hospital.”
Delgado-Garcia was sworn in as a trooper by officials, according to I-Team sources. He will receive full state police honors. His body was also escorted by police from UMass Memorial Medical Center to the medical examiner’s office in Westfield on Saturday night.
The death is under investigation by the Worcester County District Attorney’s office. 
“The Massachusetts State Police grieves the tragic loss of Trainee Enrique Delgado-Garcia, and we offer our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones,” State Police Colonel John Mawn Jr. said. “They have the full measure of our support and care, and they remain full members of our State Police Family.” 
“I’m heartbroken about the loss of Massachusetts State Police Trainee Enrique Delgado-Garcia, who had committed himself to a career protecting the people of Massachusetts. He was a beloved member of his academy class, known for his compassion and devotion to service. This is a devastating time for all who knew and loved him, and we are holding Enrique’s family and his State Police community in our hearts,” said Gov. Maura Healey in a statement.
Mawn said Delgado-Garcia devoted himself to the service of others at the academy and in his former role as a victim witness advocate in the Worcester DA’s office.
“In his short time with the State Police, Enrique demonstrated an extraordinary capacity to learn and a desire to deliver excellent police services to the people of Massachusetts,” Mawn said. “He made an immediate impression on his classmates and the Academy Staff. By all accounts, Enrique possessed and displayed all the qualities that would have made him an outstanding Trooper: kindness and compassion, dedication, commitment, willingness to work hard to improve himself, and a strong desire help others.” 
According to the state police website, the recruits in training attend a 25-week, modified stress, live-in academy with 90 different courses of instruction. The most recent class started in April and is called the 90th Recruit Training Troop.
The academy reintroduced the boxing program in the late 90s. Todd McGhee worked as the defensive tactics coordinator at the academy for a decade. He said the goal is to teach recruits how to handle violent and unpredictable situations towards the end of their training, when they’ve built up the skills and confidence.
“Oftentimes you would find a recruit that never had a physical confrontation,” McGhee said. “So, one of the goals was to be able to put a trainee in a controlled environment with conditions and have them go through an experience where it would test their internal fortitude.” 
McGhee said it’s devastating, given the safeguards he put in place to prevent injuries. Trainees are paired based on size and ability, and those with boxing experience cannot participate.
“Sixteen-ounce gloves, head gear, some type of groin protection,” McGhee said. “Someone monitoring making sure that the combatants are engaged in something that is controlled.”
McGhee said there has been thousands of successful boxing contests.
“Injuries of this nature not only are they tragic, but they’re very, very rare,” McGhee said.
McGhee said changes could soon be coming to the academy. “It’s a tragedy and it’s important that we recognize that this is a very, very unfortunate situation,” McGhee said. “Do I see changes coming? Yes. I don’t think this is a change based on this isolation of a training exercise, I think it’s a culmination of what the state police has been going through.”