Another Trooper who had prior violations

From the Globe:

by Matt Rocheleau

This case exemplifies the need for a top to bottom review of the State Police. This guy should never be a cop carrying a gun in this State or any other. Good thing no one was killed in this latest accident.

 A Massachusetts State Police trooper racked up a number of driving violations, crashes, and citizens’ complaints in previous years before he allegedly got drunk while off duty in July and slammed his pickup truck into an SUV, seriously injuring three people, including another off-duty trooper.

Jason M. Welch’s past infractions included a 2007 incident in which he was stopped by a State Police trooper and cited for having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle while also speeding — driving 110 miles per hour in a 55 miles per hour zone — in Shirley, according to his driving record and citations.

Welch was cited for speeding in three other cases between 2003 and 2007, two of which were by State Police, the records show. In two more instances during those years, he was cited for failing to stop or yield and not wearing a seat belt.

Ayer police records show Welch was cited again for speeding in 2009, but that violation does not appear on his state driving record.

Those infractions, all civil offenses, occurred when Welch was in his late teens and early 20s, before he entered the State Police Academy in late 2013.

But shortly after his arrival to the state’s largest law enforcement agency, Welch faced two additional complaints lodged by private citizens within a three-month span in 2015 for tailgating other vehicles in his department-issued cruiser, according to a log of internal affairs cases.

Welch was also involved in two other crashes in his hometown in recent years, though neither resulted in any reported injuries.

In 2015, his Subaru Legacy hit a slushy area on the road in Ayer causing it to slide onto the other side of the road, where it collided head-on with a Dodge Durango driven by a Townsend woman, Ayer police records show. Both vehicles needed to be towed away.

In 2006, Welch failed to observe a sign along Mill Street and drove a 10-foot, 6-inch tall box truck into a bridge with a 9-foot, 6-inch clearance causing heavy damage to the vehicle, Ayer police records show.

State Police spokesman David Procopio said in an e-mail that the department conducted a background investigation on Welch in 2013, before he was admitted to the academy.

“Massachusetts State Police background investigators examine numerous components of candidates’ personal and professional histories, including their driving records,” Procopio said. “In cases where candidates incurred driving violations earlier in their lives, one mitigating factor that is considered is the nature of the infractions, the age of the candidate at the time of the infractions, and the length of time since the last violation.”

Procopio said the two tailgating complaints against Welch were resolved before rising to the level of a full internal investigation. “This is not uncommon for complaints of a relative minor alleged violation and when the complainant is amenable,” he said.

Welch’s most recent crash happened on July 21. The 35-year-old was arraigned Sept. 5 in Chicopee District Court on charges of operating under the influence of liquor causing serious bodily injury, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, operating under the influence of liquor, and failure to take care in stopping. A not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf, and he was released on his own recognizance.