BOSTON — Half a year later, the Boston Police Department has not turned over court-ordered records from an internal affairs investigation of an officer involved in a high-speed chase that killed three teenagers driving a suspected stolen car, with a gun inside.

Suffolk Superior Judge Katie Rayburn has warned that the department could be sanctioned if it doesn’t provide the requested records relating to Officer Triston Champagnie’s conduct by a June 4 deadline.

Rayburn’s ruling, issued last week, comes in a months-long fight between the BPD and Attorney Zachary Cloud, who has requested the judge hold the department in contempt for its failure to produce records.

Cloud is an attorney for a Boston man indicted on firearms charges after a traffic stop, an incident that involved Champagnie as the arresting officer, months before the fatal high-speed chase.

Cloud has questioned Champaginie’s credibility and argued for dismissing his client’s case with “how long this has proceeded and how flagrantly (the BPD) violated the court’s order.”

Rayburn denied the defense’s motion to dismiss the charges as “there is no egregious prosecutorial or police misconduct,” she wrote in a decision memorandum last week.

But the judge also added that if the prosecution fails to comply with the records order by June 4, daily fines, exclusion of evidence, or dismissal could be considered as potential sanctions.

“While my client and I are disappointed the judge did not dismiss the case,” Cloud told the Herald, “her decision is clear that the BPD must turn over the internal affairs records we have asked for within the next two weeks or face consequences. We are eager for all the facts and circumstances about the internal affairs investigation to come to light.”

Suffolk Superior Court ordered BPD on Dec. 3, 2024, to produce unredacted copies of all materials relating to any complaints made by civilians, co-workers or supervisors against Officer Champagnie; all materials relating to any internal affairs investigations of the officer; and all materials relating to any disciplinary action taken against the officer.

Cloud has requested the records since last August, before filing a subsequent court order.

BPD failed to produce the documents by the court’s initial deadline of Dec. 12, 2024, and the following day, the defense moved for a contempt hearing, which took place last month, and filed its motion to dismiss.

Champagnie arrested Joe Simmons Jr. on June 20, 2023, in Dorchester on firearms charges, with the officer finding a loaded Kel-Tec P-11 in the glove compartment of Simmons’ girlfriend’s SUV. The officer pulled the defendant over in the early hours of that morning after he allegedly drove through a red light and failed to use a turn signal.

Cloud has taken exception to how critical parts of the traffic stop happened before Champagnie’s body camera was activated, which he has said will be a “key issue for the judge taking evidence in any motion to suppress hearing.”

Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Danielle Madden has countered that Champagnie’s body camera captured “every portion of the interaction (except for) the reason for the stop.”

Cloud’s concerns over Champagnie’s credibility only grew when he learned last summer that the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office and BPD had been investigating Champagnie for his involvement in a fatal high-speed chase on Dorchester’s Morrissey Boulevard in January 2024.

Per the Boston Globe, Champagnie, sitting in the passenger seat, and Officer Matthew Farley, the driver, continued to pursue a suspected stolen vehicle at a high speed despite Champagnie’s acknowledgment of a supervisor’s command to “terminate.”

Three teenagers in the car, which reached speeds of 106 mph, died after they crashed, while a fourth occupant survived. A pistol was found inside.

The DA’s office did not press criminal charges against Champagnie and Farley, who remain subject to the internal affairs investigation and are not allowed to have department-issued guns and uniforms.

Prosecutors have argued that they can’t produce the requested records as the investigation is still ongoing.

“The department wants to conduct its investigation free of having to publicly release this information where it’s available to the officers who are subject to the investigation,” Robert Arcangeli, assistant corporation counsel for the BPD, said at a hearing last month. “Investigations take time.”

Judge Rayburn highlighted in her decision memorandum that under a recent update to the state’s rules of criminal procedure, the prosecution must “disclose all items and information favorable to the defense.”

“The information sought here is favorable to the defense: Officer Champagnie is the arresting officer and a key witness, which puts his truthfulness at issue,” Rayburn wrote.

In March, Cloud received copies of internal affairs complaints against Champagnie, who earned $111,387.05 in total pay last year, according to city payroll records. One stemmed from a June 2023 incident, just days before Simmons’ arrest, with the officer “improperly handling a firearm,” causing it to discharge and damage property.

Champagnie joined BPD after graduating from the Police Academy in November 2022.

The attorney has argued that Simmons, who had a previous criminal record before his June 2023 arrest, has lost out on job opportunities as the case has faced numerous delays.

“This officer participated in an unnecessary high-speed pursuit that left three teenagers dead and was untruthful with his superiors about it,” Cloud told the Herald. “And it’s especially heartbreaking that none of this might have happened had the BPD treated him as they would treat a normal officer during his first instance of misconduct.”

“We hope the BPD will take the necessary steps to ensure something like this does not happen again,” he added.

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