QUINCY, Mass. — 25 Investigates has learned that the Massachusetts Attorney General has conducted a review of the Quincy police department’s handling of an off-duty state trooper’s 2021 crash into a home.
In 2022, Quincy police told 25 Investigates that an “outside agency” was conducting a quote “external review” of how the department handled the case.
Retired Quincy Police Chief Paul Keenan told Investigative Reporter Ted Daniel in a recent interview that the Attorney General was that outside agency.
Keenan said he’s not aware of the status of the probe. He retired in June.
“It was requesting the attorney general look at it,” Keenan said. “All the information was turned over to them under a subpoena. And as far as I know and I have been gone for a couple of months, as you’re aware, I don’t know that they’ve made a resolution on that, okay. It was all under subpoena.”
The Attorney General’s office told 25 Investigates that it does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.
Keenan maintains that his office investigated the crash “appropriately.”
“We investigated the crash,” he said. “We did everything appropriately.”
On Labor Day weekend of 2021, Massachusetts State Trooper Kevin Keith crashed his pick-up truck into a Houghs Neck home at 1:30 in the morning – while driving on 3-wheels.
25 Investigates discovered Keith had lost a wheel in a crash with a guardrail and kept driving – but that important detail was left out of the police report.
Initially, Quincy police denied the guardrail crash before the Houghs Neck home crash even happened.
Keith went by ambulance to the hospital.
There’s no record of him speaking with the officers who responded to the call.
Quincy police filed a citation and criminal complaint against Keith for the crash – but there’s no public record of it, because the case was dismissed by a clerk magistrate in a secret closed-door hearing.
“It was thoroughly appropriately investigated,” Keenan said. “Back at the time, the information was, we wound up going to a clerk’s hearing. The outcome of that, they didn’t charge him criminally.”
Keenan said he wasn’t at the magistrate hearing, and couldn’t comment on whether there was any evidence of wrongdoing presented.
Keith and Massachusetts State Police didn’t respond to requests for comment from Boston 25.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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