After responding to a brutal 2023 cruiser crash involving State Police Sgt. Scott Quigley — which led to the death of a disabled man a month later — staties seem concerned about the consequences the sergeant would face.

“Unless he’s s###-faced, I’m not worried,” one officer was caught saying on Mass State Police dash cam and body cam footage obtained by the Herald.

But allegations that Quigley was, indeed, “s###-faced” at the time of the crash came to light last month, more than two years after the incident. According to a police report, Quigley only received a marked lanes violation at the time.

The accusation that Quigley’s blood alcohol level tested at a .114 at the hospital following the crash (the legal limit is .08) came out in a wrongful death suit filed by the victim Angelo Schettino’s family.

The smashed van and cruiser at the Woburn crash scene. (MSP body camera video screengrab)

The lawsuit has put a spotlight on the Woburn crash, not just how Quigley may have been liable for the incident, but how the State Police handled the investigation that followed.

In dash camera footage, the trooper assigned to investigate the crash, Sgt. Jennifer Penton, seems willing to delay an interview with Quigley, after being told by a lieutenant that she shouldn’t come to Lahey Hospital.

“You guys were going to send someone down to interview him?” the lieutenant asks her over the phone, picked up on the dash cam’s audio.

“So, I, uh…” Penton starts to reply.

“What I’m saying is that right now, it’s not the time for an interview,” the lieutenant cuts her off.

“No, no no, no, no. I, I just want to give him his, his uh, his belongings,” she says. “His gun is going to be secured at HQ, but I have a backpack with just whatever was personal.”

Penton is currently suspended with pay for an unrelated incident that occurred at the State Police Training Academy in 2024. Following an independent investigation, Penton was charged with manslaughter for her alleged involvement in the death of a recruit and perjury for allegedly lying to the grand jury.

State Police Sgt. Jennifer Penton (MSP Facebook photo)

On the video, Penton tells the higher up that she would head first to another hospital where the driver of the other vehicle was transported before dropping off Quigley’s personal belongings at Lahey.

Handicapped placards inside the van at the Woburn crash scene. (MSP body camera video screengrab)

As she starts to pull away from the scene, another, unidentified officer approaches her cruiser.

The two start talking, and Penton relays her conversation with the lieutenant.

“[The lieutenant’s] like, ‘Scott hit his head, so someone said you’re coming to interview him?’ ” Penton says. “I don’t want to (expletive) interview Scott, like I don’t, obviously. I have all the info from the exchange, and if he’s not feeling up to it we can, we can wait and…”

“Give him some time to rest,” the other officer finishes her sentence.

“Yah, give him some time to rest,” Penton agrees.

Penton continues to tell the other officer that there is “no rush” and “this isn’t going to be my call, like I’ll do whatever a lieutenant…” but doesn’t finish the thought.

“I wasn’t here, there’s no witnesses,” Penton says. “I’ll see what the other driver says.” She tells the other officer that the van Quigley hit was on their own side of the road and, “it appears that Scott had his phone out.”

Penton tells the officer she’s heading out to talk to the driver.

“Gives Scott time to … get his bearings,” the other officer replies.

“Yah, exactly… they don’t even want me to come, like I’m not freaking IA,” Penton says. “IA” is usually short for internal affairs, the branch of a police department that investigates officers for wrongdoing.

“They’re looking out for him,” she says. “Maybe they know it was his fault, and they’re like, ‘Woah woah woah, let’s just wait.’ ”

That’s when the other officer says, “Unless he’s s###-faced, I’m not worried about it.”

To which Penton replies, “Unless there’s something more I don’t know about.”

Penton eventually interviewed Quigley eight days later.

State Police Sgt. Jennifer Penton takes photos at the Woburn crash scene. (MSP body camera video screengrab)

Quigley, through his attorney Christina Pujals Ronan, has pushed back on the allegations.

In a statement released on Feb. 20, Ronan said Quigley has “consistently maintained that this was an unfortunate and tragic accident — not a criminal act,” and that he has cooperated fully with investigators and remains confident “the objective evidence will ultimately support his account.”

“Throughout his law enforcement career, as well as during his prior military service, he has never been the subject of disciplinary proceedings,” Ronan said. “We ask that the public allow the investigation to proceed fairly and without speculation.”

In court filings, Quigley has also argued that he is immune from civil penalties because he was an on-duty officer at the time of the crash.

In a response to questions about the footage, a Mass State Police spokesperson pointed to a letter from Colonel Geoffrey Noble, which said the agency has opened internal affairs investigations into several individuals related to the crash and hired an outside firm to review the agency’s handling of the situation.

“This will be the subject of the review,” the spokesperson said.

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office is also looking into whether or not Quigley will face criminal charges for his part in the crash and the death of Schettino. Although the case would usually fall under Middlesex County’s jurisdiction, the office referred the case to Suffolk because Quigley was embedded at Middlesex as a homicide investigator.

Meanwhile, Quigley’s involvement in a Lowell murder trial has paused that trial and brought up questions of prosecutorial misconduct.

Aaron Curtis contributed to this reporting.