Investigation Probed Ex-Worcester Police Chief's 2019 Road Rage Altercation With Resident

WORCESTER, MA — Former Worcester police chief Steven Sargent was the subject of an independent investigation over a 2019 road rage altercation with a city resident, but former city manager Ed Augustus Jr. rejected the findings, calling them "not conclusive," according to internal documents received by Worcester Patch under a public records request.

The investigation compiled by Michael P. Gardner, a Cambridge official and former personnel director, found wider faults within the Worcester Police Department due to how high-ranking members handled the citizen’s complaint, which alleged the chief confronted a man and swore at the him in his driveway.

The newly surfaced report follows Sargent's abrupt retirement on Sept. 1, which came after publicity around an independent investigation of allegations of abuse by Sargent made by Robert Belsito, a Worcester police court liaison. The Worcester Telegram first published details of the Belsito investigation in mid-August, followed by an interview with City Manager Eric Batista on Aug. 31 where Batista said the complaint should've been sent to the state POST Commission.

The allegations filed by Belsito and the citizen involved in the 2019 road rage incident are among 12 complaints made about Sargent dating back to 1988, according to city records. Belsito's was the only complaint "sustained" by the department's Bureau of Professional Standards over Sargent's 37-year career. Almost all the other complaints, including the 2019 road rage claim, were either not sustained or unfounded.

Austin Joyce, Sargent's attorney, could not comment on the 2019 investigation and said Sargent was away this week on a trip.

The investigation into the 2019 road rage incident was released this week after Worcester Patch filed public records requests related to Sargent’s retirement. The document was kept as part of Sargent's personnel file but was never passed to the Worcester police Bureau of Professional Standards for a formal determination until this month, according to a city spokesperson.

2019 incident

The altercation began around 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 22, 2019, in a neighborhood near the west side of Indian Lake. It was a Sunday evening, and Sargent was driving to the Shaw’s along Grove Street to buy food and wine for a barbecue. While driving down a steep road off Grove Street, Sargent encountered a homeowner who was sitting in his car in the street.

According to the report, the homeowner and his wife were rearranging the cars in their driveway in preparation for work the next morning. The man was idling near the curb waiting for his wife to pull into the driveway when Sargent pulled up behind him in his city-issued Ford Taurus.

The homeowner told Gardner, the investigator hired by the city, that Sargent drove up close to his rear bumper — so close the homeowner couldn't see Sargent's license plate — and started honking his horn. When the man started to move down the hill to reenter his driveway, Sargent followed closely and then partially pulled into the man's driveway and parked, the investigation said.

The homeowner told Gardner in an interview that Sargent got out of his car and walked into his driveway. When the man went to see what Sargent was doing, the chief began swearing, calling the man a "f--king fat ass" and other epithets, according to Gardner's investigation. The homeowner also reported smelling alcohol on Sargent's breath, information he later relayed to a 911 dispatcher.

The altercation grew so loud that it drew the attention of a neighbor walking her dog and the homeowner’s wife and children.

"[The homeowner] said [Sargent] acted so angry that he thought [Sargent] might try to hit him, though he never did. When he realized the man was drinking, he told him so, and said perhaps they should call the cops to settle it. He said at that point the man started to back away," Gardner wrote in the report.

The incident left a lasting impression on the family. The 11-year-old son talked about the confrontation "for days," the mother told Gardner.

The homeowner decided to call the 911 dispatch center to report the incident about 10 minutes after Sargent left, the investigation said.

"Gets in my driveway, gets in my face. Calling me names, with my kids in the driveway. That’s bullcrap, chief of police doing that. Now I don’t know what I have to do to make a complaint. I’ll go to the Worcester Telegram if I have to, but that is no way for the chief of police to act," the homeowner told a 911 dispatcher the night of the incident, according to a transcript of the call.

Sargent's side

Sargent's retelling of the incident was completely different, and he told Gardner the homeowner was blocking the roadway and committed traffic violations. Sargent also denied drinking immediately before the incident, except possibly two beers earlier in the day, the investigation said.

"[Sargent] said, 'I’m behind him and he didn’t move so I gave a couple more beeps.' He said he 'didn’t lay on the horn but hit the horn a couple of times.' In his second interview he said, 'I really beeped.' He described the other vehicle as 'being in the middle of the road.' The other car did not move, and the chief was stuck behind him, he estimated for about a minute," Gardner's investigation said.

Sargent told Gardner he followed the homeowner closely as he pulled into his driveway, and the driver braked suddenly to "bust my chops," Sargent said.

Sargent said he first rolled his window down to speak to the homeowner but decided to get out of his car when he saw the homeowner "barreling" down the driveway toward him.

"Chief said he reacted with his police training, instinctively getting out of his car and approaching the other driver, who was still coming towards him," Gardner's report said.

"In describing what happened when they were a few feet apart, the chief said, 'we go back and forth swearing at each other,'" the investigation said. "He said the other man said something first, and the Chief remembered calling the other man a 'f--king a--hole.'"

Sargent said he decided to leave when he saw the man's wife in the driveway. He said the man followed him down the driveway, screaming about Sargent being drunk.

"The Chief said he looked at the incident as 'two Worcester citizens had a disagreement for a very short time,'" Gardner wrote.

Response to homeowner

The homeowner's call to the 911 dispatch center triggered a process under department policy where a supervisor is supposed to respond to investigate. The dispatcher who took the complaint, however, had a difficult time finding the right person, conferring with multiple police supervisors for more than 15 minutes while the homeowner was on hold. The dispatcher told the homeowner an officer would be out to visit him.

A sergeant on duty that night was asked to respond. But police Capt. John Ryder heard about the incident on his police radio and intervened, volunteering to handle it. Ryder's intervention led to a mishandled investigation into what happened that night, Gardner's report said.

Ryder called the homeowner about an hour after the incident but didn't get an answer and didn't leave a message. Ryder did not get the homeowner's address from the dispatcher, so he didn't go to the home.

Ryder then called Deputy Chief Paul Saucier — who has been appointed interim chief following Sargent's retirement earlier this month — to talk about what to do. During a call, Ryder and Saucier agreed that Ryder should go speak to Sargent at his home.

Ryder arrived at Sargent's home just before 8:30 p.m. and spoke to the chief in front of his home.

"I told him that a guy called dispatch and claimed that there was an incident on [redacted] involving their vehicles and that the Chief swore at him and said the Chief had been drinking. There was no indication to me that the Chief had been drinking. I could smell BBQ sauce from the ribs he was eating. Chief said that the guy jumped out of his car at him and a woman said something to him and he changed his attitude. I apologized to the Chief for bothering him and his family while they were eating," Ryder reported.

Ryder apologized and left, but Sargent followed in a text message thanking Ryder for his discretion. The thread was included in Gardner's report.

Sargent: Thanks for coming by. Pissed you had to come by. The guy was an ass for sure. Comes with the territory.
Ryder: I figured that. Embarrassed that I went to ur house and disturbed u eating w ur family. I wanted to see u in case this goes further. Now this fool cannot claim we did nothing.
Sargent: I agree. I’m glad you did. He jumped out at me then the women said something to him and he changed his attitude. Thanks again.
Ryder: Thanks Chief. Sorry to bother u and ur family.
Sargent: Glad you did. You never know.

No one from the department ever spoke to the homeowner until Gardner's investigation.

Gardner's findings

Augustus' office hired Gardner on Oct. 2, 2019, as an independent investigator. Gardner interviewed 15 people over the course of about a month, including the chief, the citizens involved, and a host of police and city personnel.

A large part of Gardner's report involved assessing the credibility of each person involved, including whether the homeowner and his family would have any motive for wanting to hurt Sargent's reputation.

Gardner's conclusion was that the chief's story was likely not accurate, and found evidence that Sargent has a quick temper. The chief grew angry at one point when Gardner mentioned talking to a former assistant city manager, according to the investigation.

Gardner also found fault with Ryder and Saucier's role in upholding department Policy 500, which governs how complaints are handled.

Ryder, Saucier, and Sargent failed to "ensure that a citizen complaint was properly investigated, including giving the citizen the opportunity to file a written complaint, preparing necessary reports about the incident and failing to refer the matter to the Bureau of Professional Standards,” he wrote.

Gardner also concluded that Sargent violated several key department rules, including engaging in conduct unbecoming of an officer and not being truthful. He also found Ryder in violation of department rules for disparaging the homeowner in the text exchange with Sargent. Gardner also recommended updating Policy 500 to create a process for reporting complaints routed through the 911 dispatch center.

A message sent to Gardner through the city of Cambridge requesting comment was not immediately returned Wednesday.

Augustus says 'not conclusive'

Gardner submitted his investigation to city officials on Jan. 9, 2020, but it does not appear anything was ever done with the document until recently.

The final page of the investigation released by the city this week is a memo from Augustus, now Gov. Maura Healey’s secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, describing how he handled the matter. The document is stamped "Sept. 1, 2023" — the same day Sargent's retirement was announced before Labor Day weekend — and signed by Augustus.

"I discussed this with the chief and expressed my strong displeasure that he had put himself in this position. I determined that the reported evidence was not conclusive and therefore did not accept the findings," the memo said.

A spokesperson for Batista said Wednesday that Augustus sent the document recently to update city records. Batista’s office said the outcome of the investigation was never filed until Augustus sent the memo earlier this month.

"When the city manager’s office became aware of the investigation and needed to advise [the Bureau of Professional Standards], there was no final disposition memorialized, so the city manager’s office conducted an inquiry into what the previous administration’s disposition was and reached out to the former city manager as part of this inquiry. The former city manager then provided the documentation, memorializing the action and final disposition. The disposition was necessary for BOPS to update its records," a statement from Batista said.

The investigation will not be shared with the state POST Commission because the allegations were not sustained, according to Batista's office.

Here's the full report compiled by Gardner:

Sargent Final Report 010920 by neal mcnamara on Scribd