EXCLUSIVE: Former RI State Police Major Says Lt. Colonel Told Him “He Thought He Killed" a Man

EXCLUSIVE: Former RI State Police Major Says Lt. Colonel Told Him “He Thought He Killed" a Man

A former major in the Rhode Island State Police (RISP) has said that a Lt. Colonel told him "he thinks" he killed a man ten years ago. 

GoLocal has exclusively received a copy of an audio record between two former ranking officers in the RISP. 

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The audio recording, which was taped on January 31, 2022, is a call between former State Police Major Tim Sanzi and then-Lt. Michael Casey.

Casey has since retired.

Sanzi called Casey to tell him that a decade earlier, former Lt. Colonel Joseph Philbin had called him and admitted to him that he thinks he may have killed someone.

Philbin retired in 2019, but in August landed a RIPTA security job.

“I just want to tell you this...personally...and, I don’t know if it will help your case or whatever, but there was something that I remembered— that happened and its, its, that statute of limitation is up on it,” Sanzi said to Casey on the call.

The reference to the case was that Casey had filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the State of Rhode Island, the State Police, former Superintendent Jim Manni and Philbin. That case is presently pending in state court.

 

”He hit a guy in a bar in East Greenwich. The guy fell down and split his head open on the curb. He thinks that he killed him.”

Sanzi said in the call with Casey, “I thought about it the other night, and I was like, I can’t believe I didn’t...I forgot all about this, but I think it was like 2012 or 2013. It was around that time, one night I get, I’m sitting in my house, and I get a fucking absolutely panic phone call from Joe [Philbin]."

Sanzi said that when Philbin called him, he sounded very intoxicated.

"He was like, I got something to tell you, you can't tell anybody -- and I never did," Sanzi told Casey. "I never told anybody until right now."

According to Sanzi, Philbin told him that "he hit a guy in a bar in East Greenwich. The guy fell down and split his head open on the curb. He thinks -- he thought that he killed him.”

Sanzi, in the call, said to Casey, “Now...I’m sure it happened…I am positive it happened.”

Sanzi said that the call from Philbin took place in 2012 or 2013.

Sanzi, in the recording with Casey, said that Philbin told him where the incident took place.

“And [Philbin] was like, oh, I left. It was like this little nut bar, he told me the bar, it was this little dump bar down by, you go down the hill, and it’s like a little neighborhood dump bar,” said Sanzi.

Casey thought the name was the Elms.

Sanzi recounted his conversation with Philbin, “And I was like, well, where are you now? And he was like, well, I’m going home. I’m cleaning up... he goes, the rescue came. He goes, I hit him, and he goes, he fell, and he cracked his head on the fucking curb.”

Sanzi added, “I said Joe…if you're this upset about it, I think you gotta do something about it. You just can’t, I don’t know if this is something you’re going to just bite down and live with it. I said, but, I’m not going to say anything either way, but if you are asking me for advice, I said, you got to sort of, you know, render aid, do the right thing because there is always an explanation.”

"I said I've been in situations where I've had to defend myself...but he was so freaking out," Sanzi continued in his conversation with Casey, recounting the phone call with Philbin. 

Sanzi, in the phone call with Casey, said that Philbin called him back later that evening.

“He called me like five hours later — and he was like thanking me and everything. It was really fucking weird, and he was thanking me to the point of — he told me that he called that kid 'Brownie,'" Sanzi continued to recount. "That he 'took care of it' and the guy had been to the hospital...and that he told him...nothing's going to happen."

The reference to “Brownie” was to then-East Greenwich police officer Stephen Brown, who today is the Police Chief of East Greenwich. Brown and Philbin were close friends while attending URI together in the late 1980s. GoLocal reached out to Brown for comment, he did not respond.

"I'm positive it happened," said Sanzi. "But who the fuck knows?"

“I don’t know what got me thinking about it. [It] was actually when I was talking to Ruggiero, and I didn’t say anything to Ruggiero. I’ve never said anything to anybody about it,” said Sanzi.

The "Ruggiero" Sanzi was referring to is Al Ruggiero, a former RI State Trooper and now Police Chief in North Providence. The two had been at a funeral together.

Sanzi said in the recording he had never told anyone before about what Philbin told him a decade earlier.

 

East Greenwich Death

GoLocal learned that Sanzi notified the Rhode Island State Police of his remembrance of the call from Philbin and his phone call to Casey.

Casey, after the call with Sanzi, searched to see if there was a death in East Greenwich in 2012 or 2013.

On March 22, 2012, a businessman who lived in Kingston was at the Oaks Tavern in East Greenwich. 

The man, David Heffron, age 58, was drinking at the bar that afternoon.

The bar is located right where Philbin said the incident occurred, according to Sanzi's conversation with Casey.

An East Greenwich Police report states, “While Officer Branch was attempting to identify the unconscious male, later identified as Heffron, I entered the Oaks Tavern and spoke to the bartender, Krishna Johnson, [and] a female patron, REDACTED.”

“Both parties stated that Mr. Heffron hadn’t been inside the Oaks Taverns nor did they recognize him. Later I spoke to two male parties outside the Oaks Tavern. Both male parties stated they hadn’t seen what happened nor did they recognize Mr. Heffron,” wrote Officer Leif Anderson in his statement in the police report.

But East Greenwich Police would later be told that the bartender was lying.

According to Anderson’s statement, ”Officer Branch and I knocked on the door of REDACTED…she stated that the Oaks Tavern employee and patron were lying to us. REDACTED states it was commonplace for patrons to leave the establishment highly intoxicated.”

When police challenged the bartender Johnson's claim that Heffron was not in the Oaks Tavern she changed her story.

She admitted she served him multiple drinks and that he fell off a stool. Johnson claimed Heffron cut his ear when he fell.

It was also disclosed that the bartender did, in fact, know Heffron, as her ex-boyfriend had worked for Heffron’s company — RI Hydraulics Co., in North Kingstown

Later, Johnson gave a statement that Heffron left the Oaks and fell backward and hit his head. She said also said no one was near him.

Heffron was taken by rescue to Kent County Hospital. He died two days later.

 

Philbin Refutes Comments in Call 

Philbin, when reached for comment, refuted the allegations made by Sanzi. 

“That’s a question I’ll take to my grave. I don’t know why he would say that. I don’t," said Philbin, when asked why he thought Sanzi would tell Casey what he did.

"Tim was my best friend, my best man at my wedding. The State Police investigated it…it was completely cleared, it was nothing," said Philbin. 

Philbin admitted, however, that he was not interviewed by the State Police during their internal investigation. 

"They asked me and I said absolutely not," said Philbin. "I just had enough at that point of Mike Casey."

"I can’t comment on any of it...it’s all bullshit," said Philbin. 

 

Coming Soon: Part II

This story was first published 11/13/22 6:44 PM