The way this latest State Police scandal is exploding, the MSP and the Middlesex County District Attorney’s office may need a lot more than one high-priced blue-ribbon CYA consulting group to sweep this deadly mess under the rug.

The way a traditional cop cover-up works is, the corrupt cops announce an “independent investigation.” That way, they can claim that these scrupulously honest outside experts are handling everything, and it’s totally legit.

And the crooked cops then get to say that as much as they’d love to, they can’t comment because “the investigation continues” and they don’t want to jeopardize “sources and methods.”

It works well. Until it doesn’t. Just ask ex-FBI directors James Comey and Christopher Wray.

But cover-ups and corruption are the only way the State Police know how to roll. They’re certainly never going to come clean willingly about what really happened in Woburn after sunset on Dec. 12, 2023.

It wasn’t until Jan. 27, 2026, that the MSP and the Middlesex County DA admitted that a fatal accident in Woburn caused by a second-generation state cop resulted in a BAC toxicology test of .114 at the hospital for the trooper.

The trooper, Scott Quigley, killed a disabled man, and got a warning for a marked-lane violation. Then he was promoted to sergeant. Now he claims the Lahey must have made a mistake with his .114 BAC.

The MSP’s investigating officer, Jen Penton, did the right thing by the MSP and was quickly promoted to lieutenant. Earlier this month she was indicted for perjury and involuntary manslaughter – in a completely unrelated State Police scandal.

I asked the State Police a bunch of questions earlier this week about the 2023 fatality. Specifically, I inquired who among the brass made their way to the Lahey in Burlington that evening where the Trooper Quigley was taken after he veered over the center line and hit a wheelchair van.

I asked if a lieutenant colonel had showed up, among others, and if the lieutenant colonel had once served with Quigley’s father on the MSP. I asked if MSP superiors are allowed to visit perps, also known as cops, before the investigators.

Another question was whether any of the officers who arrived at the hospital before Penton had informed GHQ of their involvement in the aftermath of the motor vehicle homicide.

And so on.

This was the response I got:

“On the Quigley matter, those questions will be the subject of the review I reference in my past responses.”

This is in reference to the “blue ribbon” company that will now investigate, wink wink nudge nudge.

The new group, 21CP Solutions, “is the preeminent team of forward-thinking leaders on public safety.” Or so it says on their web page.

How impartial will the 21CP Solutions probe be? One of their partners is Kathleen O’Toole, former BPD commissioner and also one-time MA secretary of public safety, which means she used to run the MSP. What conflict of interest?

The latest twist is that the 2023 body cam videos from some of the troopers, including Penton’s, have been released. Usually releasing body-cam footage helps a cop’s case, but these do not, to understate the case.

The key headline is from a state cop talking to Penton about Quigley’s post-accident condition, saying, “Unless he’s bleep-faced, I’m not worried.”

That’s bad, but the collection of Penton’s body-cam statements is almost as damaging. In 2023, she’d been a state cop for eight years. This was her second accident report.

From her comments, it seems obvious why Penton drew the short straw. She’s only following orders. Don’t rock the boat, that’s her philosophy.

Here’s a collection of Penton’s quotes about the investigation of Scott Quigley’s fatal.

“I don’t want to (expletive) interview Scott, like I don’t obviously… Give him some time to rest…. No rush… This isn’t going to be my call, like I’ll do whatever a lieutenant… They’re looking out for him. Maybe they know it was his fault, and they’re like, ‘Woah, woah, woah, let’s just wait…. They don’t even want me to come, like I’m not freaking IA.”

IA would be internal affairs at MSP headquarters, which is handling one of the three (so far) investigations into the scandal.

First, you have a criminal investigation of the fatal. That’s being run by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office, because 25 months after the accident, Middlesex County DA Marian Ryan decided it might be better if the same office where Quigley worked wasn’t handling the, ahem, probe.

Then there’s the civil wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the mother of the disabled man killed by Quigley in his unmarked cruiser. And since Quigley was a lead investigator in a murder case in Lowell, there’s also a pending court-related inquiry into the same matter, and how Quigley’s actions affected the collection of evidence….

So many scandals… and only one Pabst blue-ribbon commission. At least so far.

After the other thus-far unknown trooper utters his instantly famous statement about his pal Quigley: “Unless he’s bleep-faced, I’m not worried about,” Penton replies with something that now seems portentous:

“Unless there’s something more I don’t know about.”

You mean, like maybe the toxicology test? I wonder if the various teams of lawyers will want to question Penton under oath. Think she’ll take the Fifth?

Remember in the Karen Read case, when the state cops needed to find a fall guy, a patsy. The MSP watchword became, “Pin it on the girl,” meaning Karen Read.

Could history be repeating itself? Only this time the girl is named Jen Penton.

Then there’s the Middlesex County DA’s office. Quigley worked there, in Woburn, a former Woburn cop, driving one of the DA’s office vehicles, involved in a fatal accident in Woburn. But nobody in the DA’s office knew anything.

“On Jan. 27, 2026,” Ryan’s office said in their first statement on the record, “the MSP disclosed for the first time….”

That’s a weasel word there, “disclosed.” What did the DA know, and when did she know it? That’s the question, not when the death, and the .114 BAC level of her employee, were first “disclosed.”

Nothing ever changes with the State Police, or the Massachusetts hackerama for that matter.

Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.

Related Articles

‘Unless he’s s###-faced, I’m not worried’: Mass State Police dash cam catches aftermath of deadly cruiser crash [+video]

Timeline of Mass State Police fatal cruiser crash scandal

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