A large law enforcement presence turned out in Worcester on Saturday to honor a state police recruit who died after becoming unresponsive during a training exercise.
Loved ones gathered in Worcester Friday afternoon for Enrique Delgado-Garcia's wake. His funeral will be held on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. He will receive full state police honors for the service.
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Police carried Delgado-Garcia's casket, which was draped in an American flag, from a funeral home as part of the service.
A bagpiper played “Going Home,” and flags around the state were ordered lowered to half-staff by Gov. Maura Healey.
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Delgado-Garcia was remembered as a man who wanted to help others.
“He wanted to do good. He wanted to protect and serve with love and kindness. He wanted to make a difference," said Mary Hart and Caroline Root, friends from Worcester, friends from Worcester.
Delgado-Garcia died two weeks ago after sustaining serious injuries during a boxing training exercise at the Mass. State Police Academy in New Braintree.
He is due to receive ceremonial procedure by State Police, where an honor guard will deliver a flag to the Delgado-Garcia family following the service.
Loved ones are preparing for another tough day as they remember Delgado-Garcia.
"Distraught, disbelief, I have a lot of questions that need to be answered but they're not going to be answered today. I just hope that everything gets resolved in a timely manner. This is one of the worst things that could happen to a young individual, just trying to make a difference and change the stigma of the police." said Enrique's cousin Obed Canario-Garcia. "I want him to be remembered as a great person, an athlete, he was everything that I am but 100 times better. He was my little brother in a sense, was also kind of like my son. I'm sorry this is just a lot.."
"We shared everything together, video games, dreams, and then to see it cut short at just 25 years old is too much." he added.
There are a lot of questions and calls for accountability following this tragedy.
An independent investigation is underway with the State Attorney General naming attorney David Meier to lead the probe.
We spoke to Delgado-Garcia's mother, Sandra Garcia, ahead of this weekend's services, explaining that she geels there was great negligence involving his death.
Sandra Garcia says her son always wanted to dedicate himself to helping others. When he told her that he was interested in law enforcement, she said she worried for his safety but, as a family, they supported his dream.
The last time Garcia spoke to her son, she caught him as he was leaving home at dawn for the State Police Academy — just weeks away from graduating.
The next time she saw him was in the hospital.
Garcia says she was told that Delgado-Garcia was hit in the head and lost consciousness, telling NBC10 Boston and Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra in Spanish that all of her son's teeth were broken and that he had bruises on his body. Her heart tells her there was "great negligence" involved.
With an independent investigator now taking on the case, Garcia says she wants transparency and to know what happened, because with so much damage done, she believes it was something strange.
She also believes the department should change its training: "That training is too brutal and it doesn’t have to lead to a case where an agent has to die, because I think that the police don’t go out to box, rather to try to help the community. It’s fine if a moment presents itself where they have to defend themselves, but they don’t need to implement so much aggression to those young men that it leads to the death of one of their own.”
Delgado-Garcia's stepfather, Jose Perez, says he will remember the man as a warrior, who fought until his final day for his values and his dream.
"I think my heart will always, until the last day of my life, will think of this young man that, at his young age, he could do what many who have many more years have not been able to achieve," Perez said.
"I just hope that they hold somebody accountable for this, because we could barely keep it together in there," Howard said Friday.
