A former MBTA Transit Police sergeant is facing federal charges of filing a false report after a fellow officer assaulted a man at a Boston subway stop.
David S. Finnerty, 47, of Rutland, was arrested Thursday and appeared in U.S. District Court in Boston on two counts of false reports, a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said.
Finnerty’s indictment stems from a July 2018 incident at Ashmont MBTA station in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. According to authorities, Finnerty falsified an arrest report and another report after a junior officer — identified in the indictment only as “D.B.” — “physically assaulted a man without legal justification.”
The reports included “false and misleading statements” and omitted “material information,” prosecutors said.
Finnerty is also named in a 2021 civil rights lawsuit tied to the incident, which says he attempted to cover up the beating of Anthony Watson by MBTA Police Officer Dorston Bartlett.
Watson, who was homeless at the time of 2018 assault, claimed in his lawsuit that he fell asleep on a Red Line train and was awoken by Bartlett at the Ashmont stop. According to the lawsuit, Bartlett pushed Watson against a pillar on the train platform and then struck him with a metal baton.
“Instances of police misconduct are rare, but they need to be investigated and prosecuted when they do happen, especially when supervisors are involved as alleged here,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy said in a statement Thursday. “For the good of the community and all the honorable officers and supervisors in the police ranks, misconduct of this nature cannot be tolerated.”
Appearing in court Thursday before Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein, Finnerty pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released from custody with conditions that he not apply for a passport and notify authorities of any travel outside New England.
Brad Bailey, Finnerty’s attorney, said in a statement that his client was “innocent of all charges.” He said Finnerty had already been “exonerated” by Suffolk County prosecutors who determined “the same core allegations … could not be proven and dismissed all charges pending in state superior court.”
State charges against Finnerty were dropped last year when prosecutors said they came across new evidence that showed Finnerty had not added false information to a report on the assault, the Boston Globe reported at the time said.
Bartlett was placed on leave after the assault and later retired. He pleaded guilty last year to charges related to the incident and was sentenced to probation, the Globe reported.
