Batista pledges police transparency, says reporting hastened chief’s retirement

WORCESTER — City Manager Eric D. Batista, in a radio interview Thursday, said he and Interim Police Chief Paul Saucier are committed to transparency, and he indicated that reporting regarding the conduct of former Police Chief Steven M. Sargent had hastened Sargent's retirement.

“Let’s be an open book,” Batista quoted Saucier as telling him when interviewing for the position.

Batista’s comments came after Talk of The Commonwealth radio Host Hank Stoltz asked about recent Telegram & Gazette coverage of Sargent, including reporting Wednesday that former City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. had disregarded a 2020 probe in which an independent investigator opined the chief had been untruthful about a driving dispute.

More: “Embarrassing:” Councilors Haxhiaj, King say scrutiny warranted after police chief’s exit

Batista said he disagreed with a finding by the investigator that Saucier failed to ensure Sargent was investigated, and said he and Saucier agreed transparency would be a department priority.

“I was very adamant with the new interim that we wanted transparency,” said Batista, who, along with Saucier, declined interview requests lodged by the T&G regarding the 2020 probe.

Batista, who provided answers to some of the newspaper’s questions Wednesday through a spokesman, sat for an interview with the T&G the day before Sargent’s retirement announcement for a separate story regarding the chief.

As the T&G reported Aug. 31, the city will be notifying the state of a sustained finding that Sargent mistreated an officer from an independent investigation conducted in 2021.

Read: Report on allegations against Worcester Police Chief Steven Sargent

The probe is one of three investigations into Sargent that were first reported in the T&G on Aug. 18, including an ongoing inquiry into allegations Sargent drove his vehicle aggressively toward an officer in April.

Batista told Stoltz on Thursday that reporting on Sargent in recent weeks had hastened his retirement.

“I’m freely here to say that the chief and I had conversations already about him potentially leaving and retiring,” Batista said. “And then we mutually agreed upon a much sooner date.

“Did these things take into consideration as part of that? These reports? … I can clearly say they did,” he said.

“All these things come into effect when you make a decision, not only family decisions about your time, your experience, but then also about the direction of the department, and looking at all the differences of cases and situations.

“All of that comes into play when you make decisions about timing, and that came into a discussion between the chief and I, and we mutually agreed in terms of what timing was right.”

Batista said he told interim chief candidates upon interviewing that he “wanted more ability for us to share information” and to interact better with the community.

“Deputy Chief Saucier stood out the most in terms of his answers, and his ability to communicate with me what his plans and ideas were to establish transparency in the department,” Batista said.

Stoltz on Thursday noted that, in the 2020 report Augustus dismissed, the investigator Augustus hired ruled that Saucier had failed to ensure department policies were followed regarding the investigation of citizen complaints.

Batista indicated he disagreed with the finding, saying that proper city practice was for the Human Resources department, not the police internal affairs department, to investigate the complaint since it involved the chief.

The investigator, Michael P. Gardner, wrote that Saucier told him he “mentioned to the chief” two or three days after a resident accused him of road rage that perhaps he should consider informing the city manager.

Sargent, Gardner wrote, “did not recall” Saucier telling him that in his interview, however it appears Gardner believed it happened.

“Neither Deputy Saucier or Captain [John] Ryder followed [department policy], but Deputy Saucier did, at least, suggest to the Chief that it would prudent for him to give the City Manager a ‘heads up’ two or three days after learning of it,” Gardner wrote.

As the T&G reported Wednesday, Augustus ultimately disregarded Gardner’s conclusions, including findings that Sargent was untruthful to him twice during the probe.

Stoltz asked Batista on Thursday about whether decisions like Augustus’s signaled, as Stoltz said some have suggested, too much deference to police at City Hall.

Batista responded that every investigation is different, and that there is also material outside the report that Augustus may have relied upon in making his decision.

“There’s other conversations that probably happened with the officer, or the family, or what have you, that may not live here in this investigation document,” he said. “We don’t know that.”

Batista – who declined to answer a T&G question Wednesday about whether he discussed the matter with Augustus – went on to say that, “As a city manager, you take everything into consideration, and try to make your best decision, and what you think is right at the moment, and I believe Ed did that.”

Batista added that it’s difficult to comment on Augustus’s decision “without really having everything in its fullness to make that decision, but I do trust that the former leadership made the right decision, or took the necessary steps in terms of his decision, and I also trust that myself and the current leadership of the Police Department will make the right decisions moving forward.”

Augustus, in a four-sentence, signed statement he provided the city the day the chief announced his retirement, wrote that he found Gardner’s conclusions were not supported by the evidence, and disregarded them.

“I accepted the Chief’s offer to apologize to those who were involved and closed the matter,” Augustus, now the state’s housing secretary, wrote.

Augustus declined to comment when approached by the T&G at the Statehouse on Tuesday, and didn’t answer a detailed set of questions sent to his office.

Among the unanswered questions were why Augustus deemed the report’s findings inconclusive, for what reason he believed the police chief owed the resident an apology, and whether suggestions Gardner made to strengthen city policy were implemented.

Augustus was named housing secretary by Gov. Maura Healey in May. Healey’s press secretary, Karissa Hand, and press team did not respond Thursday to an email requesting comment.

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This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: City Manager Eric Batista promises improved transparency with police