New Bedford Police Lockup Unsolved Deaths
Was the Medical Examiner complicit in the cover-up of deaths?
Edward T Magner 1981
On August 24, 1981, Edward Magner (36) had just been kicked out of Lupo’s Restaurant for being loud. Magner then walks to a city-sponsored music event at the downtown library.
As a band began to play on the library steps about 8:30 PM New Bedford police were called regarding Magner being loud and swearing. The ranking detective at the time, the late Lt. Henry Fernandes, issued a report saying police were worried concertgoers might be offended, and a fight might break out. “For his own protection and to get him off the street, (police) brought him in, which is routine, he was placed in cell No. 4” Lt. Fernandes documented in his report.
While in custody, reports indicated Magner caused no trouble, calmed down and called his lawyer, Cyril O’Leary of Fairhaven. After the completion of the phone call, Magner was taken to a cell and was supposedly checked on routinely. At 10:33 PM Magner was checked, he was fine, at 10:55 PM he was checked on again, this time Magner was dead. His feet still on the floor, his body slumped forward, a handkerchief around his neck tied to the cell bars. Police claimed Magner apparently attached the handkerchief to the bar and “just leaned away, cutting off his air supply.” The last suicide in the lock-up was in 1959.
Police procedure at the time dictated that officers should leave the victim in place until photographed and examined by the medical examiner. Despite that, eight (8) police reports detailed an effort to cut Magners body loose, destroying the handkerchief they say he used to kill himself in the process. No ambulance was called, and no effort was made to revive him.
The medical examiner, Dr. John O’Toole, came to the lockup just after 11 PM and pronounced Edward Magner dead. The scraps of handkerchief were packed in the body bag along with Mr. Magner’s body, still clothed in a flannel shirt, blue jeans and work boots. New Bedford Police then notified Magner's brother and sister that he had killed himself using a handkerchief. Many of Magner's friend and family never saw Magner carry handkerchiefs, and none were ever located belongings in his Hill Street apartment.
State Police Trooper assigned to the District Attorney's Office, Albert Rivet, now retired, reported the death a suicide by hanging after attending the autopsy held in Saunders Funeral Home. According to Rivets report, none of the city officers were questioned. The scene in the jail was never visited. Only photographs of the body, already cut down and moved, were taken.
The Magner siblings hired a lawyer, a friend of the family who had just opened a private practice. He contacted the police department and requested copies of Mr. Magner’s files, and autopsy report. That request was denied, those reports have never been handed over.
The family attorney nor the family never saw the twenty-one (21) page report that summarized Eddie Magner’s death. The bulk of that file is the typed reports of eight (8) officers who responded to the alarm bell rung by the cell block monitor when Mr. Magner’s body was found. They are identical in their description of the position of Mr. Magner’s body -- something investigators never got to see -- and of the efforts to cut Mr. Magner down. All of the incident reports are dated and signed within one hour of Magner’s death at 11 PM. The first document in Mr. Magner’s file is a New Bedford Police Incapacitated Person report. It was filled out at 8:30 PM on August 24, 1981, and signed by the shift commander that night, the late Capt. Manuel Faria. On that form, in the space marked “holding reason” is written “Intox, Suicide.” Magner’s relatives, however, say they think the police form was created or falsified after Eddie’s death.
Douglas Staples 1988
In 1988, Douglas Staples was found dead in a police jail cell long after rigor mortis had set in. Staples was in protective custody for what police considered “public drunkenness,” his toxicology report showed little alcohol in his system. The Medical Examiner, Dr. John O’Toole ruled his death was the result of liver disease from a life of hard drinking.
Maltais Barescu 1989
In 1989, Mattias Barescu, was found dead in a jail cell after being taken into protective custody for sleeping in a downtown doorway. Dead for at least seven (7) hours before being discovered, his death was quickly ruled an overdose by Medical Examiner Dr. John O'Toole. Dr. O’Toole officially determined the cause of death before the toxicology report was completed. The Barescu Family was denied access to official documents related to their son’s death and were even denied the opportunity to speak with the arresting officer.
Morris Pina 1990
On June 16,1990 approximately 10 PM Morris Pina Jr., (32), was hiding under a boat in the backyard 19 Mapleview Terrace. The resident, Margaret Arsenault called the New Bedford Police when she heard Pina talking to a "Mike", who wasn't there. Margaret Arsenault had been living a quiet life since her husband, Kenneth Arsenault, was murdered in 1978. Kenneth's Arsenault's murder remains unsolved.
Margaret's story of what she witnessed during the capture and arrest of Morris Pina is well documented -- in affidavits, depositions and court testimony.
After calling the police, New Bedford Police officers, first two, then three, then as many as a dozen converged on her back yard. Pina kept asking the police what he had done wrong and tried to get away by climbing her back fence. Officers Leonard Baillargeon, Frederick Borges and Sandra Grace pulled him off the fence and handcuffed him. Mr. Pina was uninjured and put up no struggle once he was on the ground, Pina was arrested on charges of disturbing the peace and assault and battery on a police officer. Also present in Arsenault’s back yard that night were two city emergency medical technicians, summoned to check Mr. Pina after his arrest. EMTs Lacy Gomes and Angelina Viera, both reported Pina was uninjured at the scene and no medical treatment was needed.
On June 17, 1990, in the early morning hours, police report seeing Pina lying naked on the floor in the cell and sobbing. No medical aid is called. About 1:15 AM Pina is found dead in a pool of blood and vomit. At 1:22 AM New Bedford EMTs Lacey & Viera arrived in the cell block and found Pina battered, bloody and lifeless, his body cold and stiff with rigor mortis.
Soon after an autopsy is performed by Dr. John O'Toole. The autopsy report shows there were multiple cuts, scrapes, bruises and puncture wounds to his head, neck, torso and arms, consistent with a beating. Dr. John O’ Toole ruled the death was the result of a cocaine overdose.
Civil Lawsuit 1991
On July 29, 1991, Delores Gonsalves, Pina’s sister, files a civil rights suit in U.S. District Court alleging her brother was taken into police custody without probable cause, that he was beaten by police and subsequently denied life-saving medical treatment. The lawsuit cites eleven (11) police officers, the city of New Bedford, Police Chief Richard Benoit and then-Mayor John K. Bullard.
On August 5, 1991, Dr. John O'Toole died at the age of 58.
On June 14, 1992, court depositions indicated the Police Department never conducted an internal investigation into Pina’s death.
The City of New Bedford offers a $30,000 settlement to the family on June 15, 1992, which was declined.
In March of 1993 the New Bedford Police Department was ordered to turn over more than a decade’s worth of internal records on police brutality allegations.
December 3, 1995, Jury selection begins in federal court for the Pina trial, opening arguments began on December 7, 1995. In late January 1996 eyewitnesses Jody C. Masse and Robert Goff, in holding cells the night of Mr. Pina’s death, testify they heard yells and screams from a man begging to be taken to the hospital. Masse said police beat Pina instead.
Jury Verdict 1996
On March 8, 1996, after deliberating for less than a day, the jury returns its verdict. The New Bedford Police were found responsible for Morris Pina Jr.’s death, and guilty of conspiring to cover of the incident. The jury awarded damages of $435,000. Following trial, the parties entered into a settlement agreement vacating the judgments against the city and the mayor and requiring the city to pay Pina's estate $555,000.
Mayor Rosemary Tierney
On July 13, 1996, a news conference was held where Mayor Tierney announced her decision to suspend four (4) police officers for one (1) to three (3) months without pay. The city’s attorneys who recommended the suspensions to the mayor reasoned that there was no evidence that police beat Pina in his cell to cause his death and therefore they would be unable to legally terminate any officers involved. The federal jury, however, did find that police contributed to Pina’s death, though they failed to specifically single out any officers, ruling that officials conspired to cover-up the events of June 17, 1990. A mediator later found insufficient evidence to uphold suspensions ordered by Mayor Tierney.
After the city was found responsible in the death of Morris Pina, Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger offered to provide free civil rights training to the New Bedford Police Department. Mayor Tierney claimed the estimated $50,000 in overtime costs would be too costly.
In 1997 Mayor Tierney hired former NYPD Commissioner William Bratton, and his firm First Security to conduct a review of the police department. William Bratton spent three (3) months and received $128,000 for the review. The review, which was written by his assistant Richard Sawyer, not Bratton, says very little about steps needed to improve the New Bedford Police Department. The recommendations in the review were never implemented.
Was the Medical Examiner complicit in the cover-up of deaths?
Edward T Magner 1981
On August 24, 1981, Edward Magner (36) had just been kicked out of Lupo’s Restaurant for being loud. Magner then walks to a city-sponsored music event at the downtown library.
As a band began to play on the library steps about 8:30 PM New Bedford police were called regarding Magner being loud and swearing. The ranking detective at the time, the late Lt. Henry Fernandes, issued a report saying police were worried concertgoers might be offended, and a fight might break out. “For his own protection and to get him off the street, (police) brought him in, which is routine, he was placed in cell No. 4” Lt. Fernandes documented in his report.
While in custody, reports indicated Magner caused no trouble, calmed down and called his lawyer, Cyril O’Leary of Fairhaven. After the completion of the phone call, Magner was taken to a cell and was supposedly checked on routinely. At 10:33 PM Magner was checked, he was fine, at 10:55 PM he was checked on again, this time Magner was dead. His feet still on the floor, his body slumped forward, a handkerchief around his neck tied to the cell bars. Police claimed Magner apparently attached the handkerchief to the bar and “just leaned away, cutting off his air supply.” The last suicide in the lock-up was in 1959.
Police procedure at the time dictated that officers should leave the victim in place until photographed and examined by the medical examiner. Despite that, eight (8) police reports detailed an effort to cut Magners body loose, destroying the handkerchief they say he used to kill himself in the process. No ambulance was called, and no effort was made to revive him.
The medical examiner, Dr. John O’Toole, came to the lockup just after 11 PM and pronounced Edward Magner dead. The scraps of handkerchief were packed in the body bag along with Mr. Magner’s body, still clothed in a flannel shirt, blue jeans and work boots. New Bedford Police then notified Magner's brother and sister that he had killed himself using a handkerchief. Many of Magner's friend and family never saw Magner carry handkerchiefs, and none were ever located belongings in his Hill Street apartment.
State Police Trooper assigned to the District Attorney's Office, Albert Rivet, now retired, reported the death a suicide by hanging after attending the autopsy held in Saunders Funeral Home. According to Rivets report, none of the city officers were questioned. The scene in the jail was never visited. Only photographs of the body, already cut down and moved, were taken.
The Magner siblings hired a lawyer, a friend of the family who had just opened a private practice. He contacted the police department and requested copies of Mr. Magner’s files, and autopsy report. That request was denied, those reports have never been handed over.
The family attorney nor the family never saw the twenty-one (21) page report that summarized Eddie Magner’s death. The bulk of that file is the typed reports of eight (8) officers who responded to the alarm bell rung by the cell block monitor when Mr. Magner’s body was found. They are identical in their description of the position of Mr. Magner’s body -- something investigators never got to see -- and of the efforts to cut Mr. Magner down. All of the incident reports are dated and signed within one hour of Magner’s death at 11 PM. The first document in Mr. Magner’s file is a New Bedford Police Incapacitated Person report. It was filled out at 8:30 PM on August 24, 1981, and signed by the shift commander that night, the late Capt. Manuel Faria. On that form, in the space marked “holding reason” is written “Intox, Suicide.” Magner’s relatives, however, say they think the police form was created or falsified after Eddie’s death.
Douglas Staples 1988
In 1988, Douglas Staples was found dead in a police jail cell long after rigor mortis had set in. Staples was in protective custody for what police considered “public drunkenness,” his toxicology report showed little alcohol in his system. The Medical Examiner, Dr. John O’Toole ruled his death was the result of liver disease from a life of hard drinking.
Maltais Barescu 1989
In 1989, Mattias Barescu, was found dead in a jail cell after being taken into protective custody for sleeping in a downtown doorway. Dead for at least seven (7) hours before being discovered, his death was quickly ruled an overdose by Medical Examiner Dr. John O'Toole. Dr. O’Toole officially determined the cause of death before the toxicology report was completed. The Barescu Family was denied access to official documents related to their son’s death and were even denied the opportunity to speak with the arresting officer.
Morris Pina 1990
On June 16,1990 approximately 10 PM Morris Pina Jr., (32), was hiding under a boat in the backyard 19 Mapleview Terrace. The resident, Margaret Arsenault called the New Bedford Police when she heard Pina talking to a "Mike", who wasn't there. Margaret Arsenault had been living a quiet life since her husband, Kenneth Arsenault, was murdered in 1978. Kenneth's Arsenault's murder remains unsolved.
Margaret's story of what she witnessed during the capture and arrest of Morris Pina is well documented -- in affidavits, depositions and court testimony.
After calling the police, New Bedford Police officers, first two, then three, then as many as a dozen converged on her back yard. Pina kept asking the police what he had done wrong and tried to get away by climbing her back fence. Officers Leonard Baillargeon, Frederick Borges and Sandra Grace pulled him off the fence and handcuffed him. Mr. Pina was uninjured and put up no struggle once he was on the ground, Pina was arrested on charges of disturbing the peace and assault and battery on a police officer. Also present in Arsenault’s back yard that night were two city emergency medical technicians, summoned to check Mr. Pina after his arrest. EMTs Lacy Gomes and Angelina Viera, both reported Pina was uninjured at the scene and no medical treatment was needed.
On June 17, 1990, in the early morning hours, police report seeing Pina lying naked on the floor in the cell and sobbing. No medical aid is called. About 1:15 AM Pina is found dead in a pool of blood and vomit. At 1:22 AM New Bedford EMTs Lacey & Viera arrived in the cell block and found Pina battered, bloody and lifeless, his body cold and stiff with rigor mortis.
Soon after an autopsy is performed by Dr. John O'Toole. The autopsy report shows there were multiple cuts, scrapes, bruises and puncture wounds to his head, neck, torso and arms, consistent with a beating. Dr. John O’ Toole ruled the death was the result of a cocaine overdose.
Civil Lawsuit 1991
On July 29, 1991, Delores Gonsalves, Pina’s sister, files a civil rights suit in U.S. District Court alleging her brother was taken into police custody without probable cause, that he was beaten by police and subsequently denied life-saving medical treatment. The lawsuit cites eleven (11) police officers, the city of New Bedford, Police Chief Richard Benoit and then-Mayor John K. Bullard.
On August 5, 1991, Dr. John O'Toole died at the age of 58.
On June 14, 1992, court depositions indicated the Police Department never conducted an internal investigation into Pina’s death.
The City of New Bedford offers a $30,000 settlement to the family on June 15, 1992, which was declined.
In March of 1993 the New Bedford Police Department was ordered to turn over more than a decade’s worth of internal records on police brutality allegations.
December 3, 1995, Jury selection begins in federal court for the Pina trial, opening arguments began on December 7, 1995. In late January 1996 eyewitnesses Jody C. Masse and Robert Goff, in holding cells the night of Mr. Pina’s death, testify they heard yells and screams from a man begging to be taken to the hospital. Masse said police beat Pina instead.
Jury Verdict 1996
On March 8, 1996, after deliberating for less than a day, the jury returns its verdict. The New Bedford Police were found responsible for Morris Pina Jr.’s death, and guilty of conspiring to cover of the incident. The jury awarded damages of $435,000. Following trial, the parties entered into a settlement agreement vacating the judgments against the city and the mayor and requiring the city to pay Pina's estate $555,000.
Mayor Rosemary Tierney
On July 13, 1996, a news conference was held where Mayor Tierney announced her decision to suspend four (4) police officers for one (1) to three (3) months without pay. The city’s attorneys who recommended the suspensions to the mayor reasoned that there was no evidence that police beat Pina in his cell to cause his death and therefore they would be unable to legally terminate any officers involved. The federal jury, however, did find that police contributed to Pina’s death, though they failed to specifically single out any officers, ruling that officials conspired to cover-up the events of June 17, 1990. A mediator later found insufficient evidence to uphold suspensions ordered by Mayor Tierney.
After the city was found responsible in the death of Morris Pina, Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger offered to provide free civil rights training to the New Bedford Police Department. Mayor Tierney claimed the estimated $50,000 in overtime costs would be too costly.
In 1997 Mayor Tierney hired former NYPD Commissioner William Bratton, and his firm First Security to conduct a review of the police department. William Bratton spent three (3) months and received $128,000 for the review. The review, which was written by his assistant Richard Sawyer, not Bratton, says very little about steps needed to improve the New Bedford Police Department. The recommendations in the review were never implemented.