Work Essentials

Funeral services were held Saturday morning for a Massachusetts State Police trooper who died two weeks ago while in training at the department’s academy. Enrique Delgado-Garcia, 25, of Worcester, died Sept. 13 at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, one day after he was critically injured in a boxing exercise at the Massachusetts State Police Academy in New Braintree.A wake for Delgado-Garcia was held Friday at Mercadante Funeral Home in Worcester. The 90th Recruit Training Troop, of which Delgado-Garcia was a member, stood in uniform outside the wake. “I cant even begin to tell you what a wonderful, wonderful boy he was,” said Maria Alexandrov, who worked with Delgado-Garcia when he was a victim witness advocate at the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office.”When he would go for a run on his lunch breaks, he was just so wonderful to people. And one particular time, he had given his jacket to a homeless man,” she said. During Saturday’s funeral service, an Honor Guard will deliver an American flag to the Delgado-Garcia family.The State Police pipes and drums will play, and the air wing will fly, weather permitting.The investigation into Delgado-Garcia’s death is ongoing. David Meier, a trial attorney for more than 30 years who also worked with former Gov. Deval Patrick and as the Chief of Homicide with Suffolk County, will determine if any crime was committed leading to Delgado-Garcia’s death. State police said Sunday that the academy has suspended full-contact boxing training activities between trainees until further notice.Interim Col. John Mawn has directed a comprehensive review of the academys defensive tactics program to ensure that it aligns with safety standards, law enforcement objectives and best practices in training methods, officials said.”The colonel has undertaken a review of all the defensive tactics programs and one of the things I’m going to ask the new colonel to do when he begins is undertake an independent review of all of the academy’s programs and trainings because my goal is to make sure that we have in place the very best in terms of training for the sake of all recruits,” Healey said on Monday. Retired Lt. Col. Geoffrey D. Noble of the New Jersey State Police will assume leadership of the Massachusetts State Police in October.Few details are known about what happened during the boxing exercise, but Delgado-Garcia became unresponsive during a boxing exercise. He was removed from life support the next day. The autopsy report has not been finalized.Before training began in April to achieve his lifelong dream of joining the state police, Delgado-Garcia had worked for 18 months at the Worcester County Attorney’s Office, where he often stayed late to help people, District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said at a news conference last week.”Because of this close relationship, someone else will be handling this matter,” said Early, with tearful members of Delgado-Garcia’s family and former co-workers nearby. “There’s no way this office can handle this. Everyone loved Enrique.”Early said detectives assigned to his office will continue to investigate, but they will work with whichever agency takes over.