Civil rights advocates in Worcester are calling on long-serving City Councilor-at-Large Kathleen Toomey to temporarily relinquish her position as chair of the Standing Committee on Public Safety. The demand comes as the Worcester Police Department conducts an internal affairs investigation into how responding officers handled a late-night car crash involving the municipal official earlier this month.
Fred Taylor, president of the Worcester branch of the NAACP, formally urged Mayor Joseph M. Petty in a Monday press release to request that Toomey step aside from her legislative committee post. Taylor stated that stepping down from the leadership role on an interim basis would serve as a crucial step toward demonstrating a commitment to transparency, accountability, and the restoration of public trust in municipal government and law enforcement agencies.
The controversy arose after Toomey was involved in a collision around midnight on September 2, striking a parked vehicle as she was driving home from an area restaurant. According to police reports and recorded officer body camera footage, the impact caused significant damage, requiring both Toomey’s vehicle and the unoccupied parked automobile to be towed away from the scene.
Worcester Police Chief Paul Saucier confirmed that the police department opened an internal review on the very day of the crash. The internal affairs investigation was initiated specifically to verify that responding patrol officers followed all department protocols and ensured that no preferential treatment was extended to the councilor during their roadside assessment.
Body camera recordings from the scene captured the moments following the collision, showing officers asking Toomey what had led to the accident. In response, the councilor stated that she was driving down the street and that was all she remembered before thanking the officers. The video footage also documented Toomey spending multiple minutes searching for her driver's license and attempting to hand responding officers an alternate piece of identification before locating the correct document.
Furthermore, recorded footage showed Toomey repeatedly asking responding personnel to get in touch with Chief Saucier directly. She also mentioned to the officers that she was actively attempting to contact Sergeant Anthony Petrone, a former representative for the Worcester Patrolmen's Union.
Chief Saucier later clarified that Toomey did not reach him during the incident or in the hours immediately following the collision. Saucier added that, to the best of his knowledge, no other members of the Worcester Police Department were contacted on the councilor's behalf that evening. The chief declined to comment on the responding officers' specific handling of the scene until internal affairs investigators finalize their findings.
Toomey’s attorney, Michael Wilcox, disputed any suggestion that alcohol was a factor in the crash, categorizing the late-night incident as simply an accident. Wilcox previously indicated that his client may have been attending an election night gathering, as the Massachusetts primary election took place on September 1, just hours before the midnight collision occurred.
The incident has placed heightened scrutiny on Toomey's influential role as chair of the City Council's Public Safety Committee, a panel that works closely with the police department and regularly reviews law enforcement matters. Toomey is currently serving her 11th two-year term as a councilor-at-large and also works as a post-release and reintegration specialist for the Worcester County Sheriff's Office.
Community advocates have expressed particular concern regarding Toomey’s legislative participation in the days immediately following the crash. On September 8, one week after the collision, Toomey attended a formal City Council meeting where she voted to recommend against establishing a civilian review board to oversee police conduct. At the time of the meeting, neither the details of the crash nor the ongoing internal affairs inquiry had been disclosed to the public.
Taylor criticized the councilor's participation in those council proceedings, emphasizing that she actively cast votes on matters concerning law enforcement while an active police inquiry into her own conduct remained unresolved. In his statement, Taylor argued that Toomey had an ethical obligation to recuse herself from any council deliberations and votes tied to police oversight while the department's inquiry was pending.
The NAACP branch president also raised questions regarding the investigative decisions made at the scene of the crash, specifically asking why officers did not administer field sobriety tests. Taylor cited several factors captured on video—including Toomey's difficulty locating her identification, her presentation of incorrect documents, and her requests for officers to contact high-ranking police figures—as clear indicators that warranted a more comprehensive roadside evaluation.
The call for Toomey's temporary removal from the public safety leadership post has also been endorsed by the Civilian Review Board Coalition, a local alliance of advocacy organizations that has long pushed for independent police oversight. Toomey has maintained a long-standing public record of opposing the creation of a civilian review board within the city.
Both Taylor and the coalition have drawn parallels between the handling of Toomey's collision and another local case involving Lieutenant Gregory Markiewicz of the UMass Chan Medical School campus police, who faces drunken driving charges following a separate incident. Activists argue that both situations highlight the need for strict impartiality when law enforcement officers interact with prominent public and institutional figures.
Mayor Petty, who holds the authority to assign and adjust committee chairmanships in his capacity as chair of the City Council, has not publicly indicated whether he will ask Toomey to step aside. The mayor was first approached for comment regarding the situation on September 13, while Wilcox could not be reached immediately on Tuesday to discuss whether Toomey intends to retain her leadership post.
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