New details regarding a car crash that involved a Worcester city councilor are leading to more questions about why police officers who responded to the incident didn’t offer the councilor sobriety tests.
City Councilor Kathleen Toomey sideswiped a parked car around midnight on Sept. 2. Body camera footage shows Toomey told officers that she was on her way back from a restaurant. No injuries were reported, and officers did not charge Toomey in connection with the crash.
GBH News obtained and verified a recording of the 911 call made by the woman whose car was struck. The woman relayed to the dispatcher that Toomey was driving a Buick Lacrosse on Harrington Way when she sideswiped the parked car. The woman told the dispatcher multiple times that she thought Toomey was intoxicated.
Warning: Explicit language. Listen to an excerpt of the 911 call after a woman on Harrington Way reports her parked car was struck.
At a later point during the nearly three-minute call, the caller mentioned Toomey had a handicap sign in her car and said that “she might not be intoxicated.” But then once again toward the end of the call, the caller told the dispatcher that Toomey was under the influence and “was trying to leave” the scene.
“She kept slamming on her gas to get out, to get away, and I opened the door,” the caller said. “I don’t even think she knows what she’s doing. I think she’s drunk.”
A person who lives in the neighborhood and said they witnessed the incident noted they also thought Toomey was impaired. The resident, who wished to remain anonymous because they fear retaliation from the police department, said they ran outside after hearing a loud bang.
They found Toomey inside the car revving the engine, suggesting her foot was on the gas pedal but the car was in park. The witness said Toomey seemed disoriented, and at one point, when they approached her, they could smell liquor.
“She seemed dazed, like lost — obviously intoxicated,” the witness said.
The witness account and details from the 911 call come as Worcester police face scrutiny for not administering any sobriety tests despite signs Toomey may have been impaired. According to Worcester Police Department policies, officers must conduct standardized field sobriety tests and administer breath tests when impairment is suspected.
The department is now conducting an internal investigation into officers’ response to the incident. A spokesperson for the police department has said the review is meant to ensure “that no preferential treatment was provided and that all departmental policies were followed.” The spokesperson also said the department could not comment until its investigation was complete.
Toomey, the only woman on the Worcester City Council, has long been a staunch supporter of the police department, often voting against proposals to increase oversight of the department amid accusations of officer misconduct. At the time of the crash, she chaired the City Council’s subcommittee on public safety, which handles matters involving the police.
She has temporarily stepped down from the committee and recused herself from all votes and discussions involving the police department while the internal investigation continues. Toomey and her attorney have adamantly denied that she was impaired at the time of the crash.
In response to the witness account and recording of the 911 call, Toomey’s attorney, Michael Wilcox, said the accident occurred because his client sneezed and closed her eyes. He said she became disoriented “by virtue of the car accident” and police cleared her of any wrongdoing.
“I think that a lot of times people come out of the woodwork and have all this great evidence when the reality is there was no basis to suggest Ms. Toomey was intoxicated or impaired in any way by the consumption of alcohol,” Wilcox said. “There was no evidence of alcohol use.”
GBH News obtained the recording of the 911 call from a community activist who asked that their identity not be revealed because they fear retaliation from the police department. The woman who made the call and whose car was struck by Toomey could not be reached for comment.
During the call, the woman told the 911 dispatcher that Toomey had several Worcester Police Department stickers on her car. When the caller asked about any injuries, the woman said Toomey said she was not hurt. The caller added that the left side and rear end of her own car were “completely ruined.”
Crashes on Harrington Way like the one involving Toomey are not uncommon. Harrington Way is a narrow two-lane road, and residents often park on the side of the street, forcing cars that drive by to encroach into the opposite lane.
During the 911 call, the woman said the collision was the fourth time one of her cars had been struck on the street. She said she tried to avoid another crash by parking her car on part of the sidewalk.
“I’m half on the sidewalk because we get hit so often,” the caller said.
Various local organizations, including the Worcester NAACP and Worcester Interfaith, have criticized the police department for not giving Toomey any sobriety tests. The groups have pointed to body cam footage showing that Toomey struggled to recall to officers how the crash happened and spent several minutes trying to find her driver’s license.
The organizations have also suggested that Toomey tried to invoke her position as a city councilor once officers arrived at the scene. She asked officers to call the police chief and told them she was trying to “get a hold of Anthony Petrone,” a police sergeant and former police union leader who has supported Toomey during her past reelection campaigns.
Toomey has since issued a public apology, saying that she was wrong to mention the chief or Petrone. But she maintained that she was not impaired.
