Several community leaders formally asked Friday that action be taken against a mayoral candidate and Haverhill School Committee member alleged to have made a racist remark and engaged in misconduct, while the target of their ire said the claims are “politically motivated” and unproven.
Dennis D. Everett Jr., director of Restorative Justice and Practices for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, and Calvary Baptist Church Pastor Kenneth M. Young delivered a letter to the City Clerk reacting to Haverhill police background checks that led to Haverhill School Committee member Scott W. Wood Jr. losing police jobs in Haverhill and Wenham. Everett said the letter asks Mayor James J. Fiorentini, Haverhill city councilors and school committee members develop a formal censure policy and take a vote of no confidence against Wood.
“The serious allegations brought forth through FBI, state and local law enforcement investigations demand our attention and consideration. We appreciate, in particular, the work of the Haverhill Police Department, which through their due diligence determined that Mr. Wood was unfit to wear the uniform due to credible allegations of racism, sexism and inappropriate touching of workplace colleagues,” he read.
In his own press conference, also on the steps of City Hall, Wood pointed to a lack of evidence and couched his response in narrowly defined terms.
“Let me be clear that if I ever said anything that was harmful to anyone, I truly apologize. But what you don’t see, you do not see, any allegation that I used those words towards anybody of color,” Wood said.
WHAV obtained background checks from official government sources after making formal public records requests. The racist remark was allegedly used to describe Fiorentini and detailed in a 2013 background check by since-retired Deputy Police Chief Donald Thompson, and a second report last year by Haverhill Police Capt. Meaghan Paré. According to those reports, the term was used in an instant message sent between 2007 and 2009 and intercepted by the FBI and Massachusetts State Police. Paré’s report identifies the recipient of the texts as David Keith, who had been under investigation since 2010 for an unrelated allegation of possession of child pornography.
Young told the audience outside City Hall about the anxiety caused by the report.
“We are in pain by reading the alleged statement that was used, and I’m quoting, such as ‘nigga lover’ and ‘ass monkey.’ Once again, we’re reading publicly alleged statements that are racist, degrading, defamatory and denigrating to a race of people who have helped to build this entire nation,” he said.
In a lawsuit against the city, Wood’s lawyer, Suzanne L. Herold, counters, “Apart from the instant message conversation, which Officer Wood does not recall, none of the allegations were supported by evidence.” In an interview with WHAV, retired Police Chief Alan R. DeNaro concurred that no forensic check of Wood’s computer was made.
Wood’s lawyer also contends “The City further agreed that the background report would not be distributed to any third party, nor would the city provide any information about it to any third party unless compelled to do so by a court of law.” DeNaro confirmed the agreement, which was intended to give Wood “three years to mature up,” was to be destroyed.
Thompson also wrote he read a memorandum from Lt. Thomas Murphy to then-Merrimack College Police Chief Ronald Guilmette that reported, in Thompson’s words, “documented allegations of misconduct” when Wood worked as a police officer at the school. Wood allegedly called a female State Police officer a vulgar name, violated department rules by displaying his badge before he had completed his training and “activating his cruiser lights while in the town of Randolph” and “inappropriately touching a female employee of the Merrimack College Police Department.”
In his press conference, Wood did not specifically deny the allegations, but said there is no evidence of wrongdoing while he worked at either Merrimack or Regis Colleges.
“There is no documentation on file that either one of those colleges that confirm any of those complaints were ever made,” he said.
To support his claim, Wood handed out a 2020 background investigation by Haverhill Police Detective Richard Welch. Welch’s report, however, doesn’t reference Merrimack College. Asked about the omission, Wood told WHAV it is customary not to include employment that is more than 10 years old.
WHAV made no mention of specific allegations of wrongdoing at Regis College in its original story. Welch wrote he interviewed Sgt. James Garballey of the Regis College Police Department, who reported he does not recall any discipline issues.
Thompson, however, wrote in his 2013 report that he interviewed a woman at Regis who said she turned down a dinner invitation by Wood. He allegedly reacted by saying, in Thompson’s words, “he could take out his pepper spray and spray her and that no one would believe her if she were to say anything.” Paré said she confirmed the alleged report when she interviewed the woman last year.