Framingham Cop's Federal Suit Tossed By Appeals Court

FRAMINGHAM, MA — A federal appeals court has ruled against a Framingham officer who sued the city in 2016, accusing police department leaders of retaliating against him after he accused other officers of corruption.

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this month upheld a January 2020 ruling that said a jury would likely not find officer Matthew Gutwill's claims credible. Gutwill had claimed in his suit that a five-day paid suspension he served in 2016 was retaliatory, and that he had engaged in protected speech when he tried to report another officer for corruption.

At the time, the department said the suspension was handed down because Gutwill had made untrue statements and violated department rules, according to court documents. Framingham hired two outside investigators to probe statements made about the matter by Gutwill and police department leaders, and Gutwill's resulting punishment.

According to the lawsuit, Gutwill had said Deputy Police Chief Ron Brandolini was "on a wire," meaning he was being monitored by federal law enforcement. He also told former chief Kenneth Ferguson that he would "blow the place up" — meaning that he would release damaging information about the Framingham department to federal law enforcement officers.

An outside investigator found the "wire" statement to be false, which led to Gutwill's suspension.

"[Gutwill] violated policies of the [FPD] relevant to appropriate workplace behavior, including telling the truth, in two respects: (1) by making the comment to [Ferguson] on Feb. 5 about Brandolini being 'on a wire' and failing to be honest and forthcoming in this investigation with regard to what he said; and (2) by failing to be honest in this investigation about having disclosed to Brandolini several years ago that his name had come up on a [federal narcotics] wire [tap]," investigator Julia Moore wrote.

Gutwill claimed Moore was biased toward the city because of how much she was paid, and because she had communicated with Ferguson and other officials during the investigation. But the appeals court said Gutwill had provided no evidence that the investigation was biased, according to the decision.

Gutwill can still appeal the decision before the U.S. Supreme Court.