Massachusetts Police Sued After Officer Allegedly Forced To Change Report To Protect Judge's Reputation

A Massachusetts State Police officer filed a lawsuit against the department alleging that he was asked to alter a police report to protect a judge from embarrassment. The officer said his supervisor asked him to remove alleged statements made by a judge’s daughter about performing sex acts for drugs and offering the officer sex in exchange for leniency, according to the Associated Press.

The suit was filed Tuesday in federal court. The officer, Trooper Ryan Sceviour, responded to a car crash near Worcester, Massachusetts, last month involving a woman who allegedly failed a field sobriety test. That woman, Alli Bibaud, 30, happened to be the daughter of a Massachusetts district court judge. Bibaud was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence. Sceviour wrote in the report that the woman offered the officer sex in exchange for leniency after she was brought to jail and told officers she exchanged sex acts for drugs.

Sceviour allegedly also found heroin paraphernalia in her car including syringes and a spoon.

Bibaud’s charges included driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, negligent driving and a marked lanes violation. After the arrest and charges, Sceviour wrote up a report that was approved by his supervisor.

The lawsuit said that two days later, Sceviour was visited at his house on his day off by another officer and was told to report to the police barracks in Holden, Massachusetts, immediately, on orders from Col. Richard McKeon, the head of the State Police, according to Mass Live.

At the barracks, Sceviour claimed he was told to amend the report and given a written reprimand for “the negative and derogatory statements included within the gist of your report.” Sceviour’s supervisor was allegedly also reprimanded for approving the report. A state police spokesperson told the Boston Globe that the comments didn’t pertain to the case, and the officer was wrong to include them in the report.

Sceviour claimed he was asked to redact the mentions of sex as to not embarrass the judge.

“Supervisory members of the State Police, up to and including the Colonel, may review any report and have the responsibility to order any appropriate revisions. In the report in question, the revision consisted only of removal of a sensationalistic, directly-quoted statement by the defendant, which made no contribution to proving the elements of the crimes with which she was charged,” said a statement from State Police to Boston NPR station, WBUR.

Sceviour claims that he was told that he could be fired for not obeying orders if he didn’t make the changes. Sceviour is suing the state police, McKeon and several other officers for rights violations and emotional distress.

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