WORCESTER, MASS. (WHDH) – Law enforcement officers across the region joined family members and friends Friday for the wake of Enrique Delgado-Garcia, who died after collapsing during a boxing match at a Massachusetts State Police training facility in New Braintree earlier this month.
Delgado-Garcia, 25, was taken to an area hospital on Sept. 12. He died the next day.
Scheduled to graduate with his class of fellow recruits early next month, Delgado-Garcia was officially sworn in as a state police trooper in his final hours of life.
“I can’t even begin to tell you what a wonderful, wonderful boy he was,” said former coworker Maria Alexandrov.
Delgado-Garcia’s wake began Friday afternoon at Mercadante Funeral Home in Worcester. His funeral will take place on Saturday.
Delgado-Garcia’s family arrived at the funeral home for their loved one’s wake in an SUV, escorted by state police troopers on motorcycles.
SKY7-HD flying over the funeral home near 4 p.m. spotted dozens of men and women training to be troopers standing at attention in the parking lot. Recruits and troopers soon began a walkthrough to pay their respects.
“He was so kind,” Alexandrov said of Delgado-Garcia.
Police said Delgado-Garcia was hit repeatedly in the boxing ring as he sparred with another trainee.
Though police said the incident was captured by a GoPro camera, they have not released the video.
As questions swirl around what happened in New Braintree, Attorney General Andrea Campbell on Monday selected well-known defense attorney and former prosecutor David Meier to lead an independent investigation.
“The transparency piece is critical in order to understand what actually occurred,” said Humberto Cardounel of the National Policing Institute.
Cardounel is an expert on police training whose own son is being trained to be an officer.
Cardounel told 7NEWS it is important for programs to follow state standards. And he said it is important to put safeguards in…