Shortly after 3 a.m. on Jan. 4, 2024, Champagnie and fellow officer Matthew Farley began pursuing a Hyundai that had sped away during a stop on Gallivan Boulevard. Following department policy around safety, a supervising officer told them not to chase the vehicle if the pursuit originated from only a traffic violation. The officers said they stopped the chase, but they kept following, in an apparent break with department rules.
After the supervisor’s command, Farley, who was driving, turned off the cruiser’s lights, but then turned them back on as the Hyundai swerved onto Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester. When the supervisor checked back in to make sure they’d followed his orders, Champagnie, who was providing periodic updates over the radio from the passenger seat, said they were not pursuing. Video later collected by investigators shows that at that time they were still following the car, lights on, and that they also accelerated after it. Moments later, the Hyundai flipped.
The three teenagers who died were Troy Winslow, 15, Kevin Lemus-Davila, 17, who was the driver, and 14-year-old Immanuel A. Brooks. A fourth teenager, 15, survived the crash. His name has not been released.
The DA’s office investigated the crash and ultimately filed no charges. State Police crash investigators ruled the crash an accident and attributed the fault to the young driver who’d accelerated to speeds of 106 miles per hour moments before the car flipped.
But Champagnie and Farley have been under investigation for allegedly breaking safety policies in connection with the crash, and for not being forthright about the chase.
In June, the DA’s office dropped charges in a separate case in which Champagnie was the arresting officer. The case had teetered for months because of the Boston Police Department’s refusal to turn over Champagnie’s internal affairs files to defense lawyers who wanted to use them to question his integrity and truthfulness. Ultimately, after the officer was called to testify in a hearing and did not appear, the district attorney’s office dropped the case.
A few weeks later, prosecutors dismissed a case against two men because the Boston police department said Champagnie would not be available to testify.
Sean Cotter can be reached at sean.cotter@globe.com. Follow him @cotterreporter.
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