An independent investigation into departmental operations at the Haverhill Police Department is set to begin next week after Francis Gigliotti, 43, died while police officers restrained him.
The decision comes after lawyer Timothy Bradl, who is representing Gigliotti’s family, requested an independent investigation into Gigliotti’s fatal interaction with police in July.
Gigliotti’s death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner’s office at the beginning of September.
On Saturday, Haverhill Mayor Melinda Barret said in a statement that the investigation is set to begin next week. This statement also mentions her decision to place acting police chief Stephen Doherty on paid administrative leave and appoint Capt. Wayne Tracy acting chief on Friday.
Doherty was just appointed as acting chief on Thursday after former Police Chief Robert Pistone announced his retirement after he was placed on leave and a no-confidence vote by unions representing the city’s police officers.
“These changes will also allow the coming independent investigation into departmental operations, which is scheduled to begin on Thursday, Oct. 16th, to proceed openly and with the full support and participation of members of the police department,” the statement reads.
The fatal incident has been under investigation by the district attorney’s office. However, Bradl has been asking for the immediate appointment of an independent prosecutor with no preexisting contacts with the Essex County District Attorney or the Haverhill Police Department.
“There have been too many troubling and questionable events transpiring in the matter that warrant outside investigation,” Bradl wrote in a statement on Friday. “I do not believe it is appropriate for the local district attorneys’ offices in the commonwealth to be investigating deadly force incidents involving the very same police departments with which they work on thousands of cases a year.
“I know that from over a decade of prosecutorial experience that the bonds created between police and prosecution teams are very strong,” he continued, “and that local prosecutors cannot simply flip a switch and investigate wrongdoing on the part of the same officers they were supporting and defending in countless other cases in common cause.”
Since Gigliotti’s death, seven officers have been on paid leave while the investigation continues, including Officer Katelyn Tully, her father, John Tully, told The Eagle Tribune after his daughter’s death.
“She died from a stress heart attack, is what we’re assuming right now,” John Tully, a retired Lawrence Police officer, told the paper.
Bradl said that John Tully accused Pistone of holding a “closed-door” meeting with all seven officers involved.
“If this is true, it is at best a highly inappropriate means of investigation, and at worst, witness tampering or obstruction of justice,” the lawyer wrote. “This is not a transparent investigation.”
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