Another State Cop brings shame to the department

I may have to rename the blog to Bad State Cop Blog. This is just unbelievable.

https://www.wcvb.com/article/massachusetts-state-trooper-accused-of-lewd-act-during-concert-at-gillette-stadium/29577149

WRENTHAM, Mass. —

A Massachusetts State Police trooper will face a judge next month, accused of performing a lewd act on himself during a concert at Gillette Stadium.

State Trooper Andrew Patterson was able to sneak out a side door of Wrentham District Court after a closed-door hearing where a clerk decided he can be charged him with lewd, wanton and lascivious conduct for his behavior at a Luke Bryan concert last June.

Police wrote in their report that Patterson "was extremely intoxicated and his speech was thick and slurred" when they tried to talk to him.

The witnesses were a couple sitting next to Patterson.

Police were called to the floor of Gillette for the report of a fight, where they found a couple who said that Patterson and a friend had been acting inappropriately throughout the night. Patterson had sat in the chair of one of the victims, and when asked to move Patterson "motioned for him to sit on his lap." Patterson also ate some of the victim's popcorn.

At another point, according to the police report, Patterson "removed his penis from his shorts" and began masturbating. Patterson's friend apologized and the group left.

One of the witnesses used the eggplant emoji to write about the incident on Facebook, apparently as it was unfolding, and police later reviewed the post as part of their investigation.

"Sick (expletive) even pulled out his (eggplant emoji,)" the witness wrote.

When Patterson and his friends returned, one member of the group "pretended to 'grind'" on the female witness, according to the report, while another one recorded the dancing on his cellphone.

The male witness knocked the phone out of the recording trooper's hand, and then one of the troopers punched him in the nose. The male witness said he then threw a chair at the two men.

The troopers told police that the male witness started the fight by throwing the chair, and that one of them threw the punch in self-defense.

The couple told police that Patterson's friend, later identified as state police Trooper Stephen Thomson, "displayed a badge to him" and told him that "he is in big trouble now." Thomson has not been charged.

The couple told police at the time they didn't want to press charges over the fight, but after hearing their story and reviewing the Facebook post and a string of text messages, police indicated in the report that they were going to pursue a lewdness charge against Patterson.

Patterson's attorney, Daniel Moynihan, declined to comment on the specifics of the case but said his client is decorated veteran.

5 Investigates has reported on these secretive clerks hearings before. Clerk magistrates decide if there is enough evidence to move the case forward. If the answer is no, the case disappears, raising questions about special treatment when the accused is someone in a powerful position.

When asked about the charge, the male witness in the case told 5 Investigates' Mike Beaudet that no one should be above the law.

State police said Patterson has been suspended with pay since the incident. The clerk's issuing the charge now triggers an internal hearing, scheduled for Friday, to assess his duty status.

"The off-duty conduct as alleged utterly contradicts the manner in which the Department demands its members conduct themselves in their personal lives," state police spokesman Dave Procopio said.

Patterson was cleared in 2017 by the Suffolk County District Attorney after he fatally shot a man with a knife in Boston two years earlier.