Man who filmed trooper sleeping in cruiser was pulled over moments later by Massachusetts State Police

The man who filmed a Massachusetts State Trooper sleeping in his cruiser on the side of the highway has told MassLive he was pulled over by a state trooper just moments after filming the video.

Nick Ford of Marlborough said he was pulled over by a state trooper roughly three minutes after he confronted the trooper who appeared to be sleeping in his cruiser.

The trooper who pulled him over informed Ford he was pulled over for using an electronic device. Ford disputes this claim. He was pulled over while heading west on Interstate 290 before rerouting back east to his original direction.

“I felt it was retaliation,” said Ford. “And I wanted it to be documented as much as I could.”

Ford asked the trooper to request a supervisor so he could report both the trooper who appeared to be sleeping and the trooper that pulled him over. A supervising trooper arrived on scene and provided Ford with two complaint forms.

Ford said he asked the supervising trooper to write him a ticket to have the interaction on public record, but the trooper denied that request and issued him a written warning instead.

About a week later, Ford said he received several phone calls in a row from an unknown number. Ford called the number back and it was a direct line to the Massachusetts State Police, he said.

Ford said he asked the state police if they had a warrant for him and when they informed him they did not, he told them he didn’t have anything for them and hung up.

Another call came through to Ford minutes later, he said. This time, the caller identified themself as a Massachusetts State Police lieutenant from the Holden barracks.

According to Ford, the lieutenant told him he was investigating the trooper who was filmed sleeping on the behalf of Internal Affairs.

“I asked him if he was part of Internal Affairs, and to identify whether he was part of that organization,” Ford said. “And at that time, he was sort of backpedaling. And changing the subject, took about five requests before he told me, ‘No,’ that he’s not part of Internal Affairs, but that Internal Affairs had asked him to look into this.”

Ford said at this point, he refused to answer any of the trooper’s questions and asked for the trooper’s name, which the trooper did not provide.

The trooper who Ford filmed is believed to work out of the Holden barracks as well.

State police had previously told MassLive the agency was aware of the video and had opened an Internal Affairs investigation. State police declined to comment about the accusations made by Ford citing the ongoing internal investigation.

On Nov. 30, state police spokesman Dave Procopio told MassLive the trooper in the video remained on active duty.

“As the internal investigation proceeds, we will assess whether we need to address his duty status,” Procopio stated.

Ford said he had driven past the trooper sleeping in his cruiser for a “solid 12 months” before deciding to confront him and film it.

A video of the encounter titled, “My friend Nick catches Massachusetts State Trooper sleeping on the job” was uploaded by user “Shaun Church” on Nov., 21. Warning: the video contains profanities.

The 23-second video shows a first-person perspective of a man walking up to a state police cruiser that is pulled over on the side of the road in what appears to be in the Interstate 290 area not far from Interstate 495.

Inside the cruiser, a trooper appears to be slouched over to the right sleeping on the center console. The man recording the video then bangs on the cruiser’s window and startles the trooper who sits upright and lowers the passenger window.

“Bro, I see you sleeping here every single morning, k,” the man says to the trooper. “Going on Facebook Live...Every morning I drive by, you’re [expletive] sleeping, I can’t even see you in the front seat.”

The trooper then appears to turn his head to the left. The video abruptly ends without the trooper responding to the man filming.

According to Ford, he spots Massachusetts State Police cruiser 1045 parked at the first turnaround after merging onto I-290 from I-495 heading towards Worcester every morning.

“Every day I see them hiding where they can’t see traffic from either direction and I assume that they’re sleeping,” said Ford. “This particular day, he had become so comfortable with the situation in the hiding spot that he didn’t choose to drive to where they normally park, and he was kind of close to the edge of the road.”

Ford said he drove by and didn’t see anyone in the front seat.

“Which was kind of like my cue where this guy just keeps getting more and more brazen,” he said. “And it’s a public safety hazard. And if somebody doesn’t say something about it, it’s just going to keep on going.”

Ford said he understands the pressure troopers are put under, but witnessing the trooper sleeping on a daily basis, felt it needed to be put out in public.

“That is not being tired,” he said. “That is systematically stealing from your employer who is funded by my tax dollars. This isn’t an accident. This isn’t a one-time thing. This is somebody that was so brazenly stealing that somebody risked personal issues with a road he drives every single day to put a stop to, it’s that bad.”

With the video out now, Ford said hopefully workers can speak up if they’re being overworked.

“Hopefully the higher ups aren’t overworking the people at the bottom,” he said. “And hopefully the people at the bottom have a chance to speak up and say, ‘I need a break.’”