A consultant says police leadership is partly to blame after a woman was beaten and pepper-sprayed by a former Massachusetts transit officer.
The Boston Globe reports New Hampshire-based Municipal Resources Inc. criticized the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority leadership in a 2016 consultant's report.
The consultant says superior officers ignored several complaints of excessive force from former officer Jennifer Garvey before the March 2014 assault on a bystander.
After the assault, the consultant says a superior officer assigned an "untrained and inexperienced subordinate" to investigate Garvey. The consultant says the investigator failed to review key evidence before exonerating Garvey.
Garvey was later convicted of assault and sentenced to six months in prison.
The MBTA says they have hired new leadership staff and made changes to its use of force guidelines.
