Bodycam video is shedding more light on just what happened when police arrested the Hampden County Sheriff in a Springfield parking garage on a charge of operating under the influence last September.
Footage obtained by WAMC through a records request adds both sound and visuals to what Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant Corey Mackey logged in an arrest narrative, describing the arrest of Sheriff Nick Cocchi on Sept. 21, 2024.
First reported by The Springfield Republican, officials have begun sharing bodycam footage with news outlets, including about 90 minutes of footage from Mackey’s perspective.
In the video is the initial response to the MGM Springfield parking garage just after 7:20 p.m. Mackey can be seen observing a white Ford Explorer with state plates and a missing front-right tire, stripped to the rim.
Within minutes, Cocchi enters the frame, approaching Mackey and shaking hands. He tells the lieutenant he’s doing “good, very good,” before interrupting Mackey mid-introduction.
The exact statement isn’t clear, but when Mackey continues, Cocchi says an unidentified party needed to change the vehicle’s tire.
What follows is a series of questions from Mackey, trying to deduce what led to the damaged SUV winding up in the casino’s valet area.
Off the bat, Cocchi says he had been “coming around the corner” when he “popped the tire,” only to say shortly afterward that he hadn’t been driving.
“Just hang on for a second. Were you the one driving it?” Mackey can be heard asking, to which Cocchi answers “no,” soon adding that a “friend” who was in the casino had driven him.
After some back-and-forth, with Cocchi maintaining the tire should be changed, Mackey notes he can smell alcohol coming from the sheriff’s breath.
At one point, the sheriff takes out a cell phone, while mouthing something inaudible to the lieutenant. While waiting for additional police to arrive as an investigation gets underway, Mackey requests Cocchi stay put several times.
Several minutes into the incident, Cocchi appears to direct someone off-camera to change the vehicle’s tire, something Mackey shot down.
“No, he’s not changing the tire right now,” the lieutenant can be heard telling the sheriff.
“Let me tell you something, he can change the tire," Cocchi countered, before Mackey again said it wouldn’t be happening.
“Ok, you wanna go down that road, huh?” Cocchi replied. “OK."
“I want to take everything by the numbers and by the book, sir,” Mackey responded.
Later, Cocchi says he came from the Springfield Country Club after playing golf and consuming “a couple of beers,” allegedly well-before arriving at MGM. In addition to property belonging to the sheriff’s office, Mackey noted in his report that there were golf clubs in the unlocked, state-owned vehicle.
He added that several responding officers, as well as the lieutenant himself, would try to locate tire debris in the area Cocchi indicated he struck a curb, only to come up short.
Also in his report, Mackey described Cocchi’s “glassy,” “bloodshot eyes.” Upon reviewing casino footage, he noted the sheriff stumbled as he entered MGM less than an hour before police arrived.
He added that Cocchi appeared to be the only occupant of the vehicle when he arrived and left the SUV, and that camera footage indicated he did not appear to drink further once inside MGM.
Additional bodycam footage from Sergeant Matthew Kane also appears to feature Cocchi joking once a Hampden County Sheriff’s Department employee arrived.
At one point, Cocchi tells the employee that while talking to police, he claimed said staff member had done some amount of the driving that night.
"I told them you drove my car," he says soon after the employee walked up.
A few seconds later, Cocchi adds he was “just teasing,” and apparently admits he, the sheriff, had been the one driving.
“I’m just teasing you, I’m just teasing you, I’m just – he didn’t drive the car, I drove…” Cocchi says.
Incredulous, the employee then asks aloud “why is he fucking with me?”
Following the sheriff declining to take a field sobriety test multiple times, state police ended up cuffing Cocchi. He was later released on personal recognizance and a fee, later appearing at Springfield District Court to be arraigned on a charge of OUI-Liquor.
Cocchi admitted to sufficient facts in court. His license was suspended for 45 days, in addition to the sheriff being required to undergo a driver alcohol education program he is currently still enrolled in, his department says.
A spokesperson for the sheriff said the OUI charge will be dismissed a year from the date he was arraigned, “as long as he stays out of trouble.” The spokesperson also confirmed Cocchi paid a little over $2,400 to cover the costs associated with the incident.
In a September statement, Cocchi said he was sorry for “not living up to the high standards I’ve set for myself, my staff, and the justice-involved population” and that he took full responsibility for what happened.
Asked for his response to the new bodycam footage, Cocchi issued another statement, saying
“Since the incident, I’ve done everything possible to show the public that I believe in transparency and accountability, even for myself. I have taken responsibility for my actions that night, and I’ve been humbled and blessed with the overwhelming support, understanding, and encouragement I’ve received from the people of Hampden County to get back to doing the good work of our Sheriff’s Office behind the walls and in the community. And that is what I’m focusing on each and every day.”
First elected in 2016, Cocchi is currently serving in his second, six-year term. His election was in 2022 and will be up for reelection again in 2028.
