A second Massachusetts state trooper has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that top police commanders pressured her to alter an arrest report and remove embarrassing information about a Worcester County judge’s daughter, who failed a sobriety test and indicated she had a drug problem.
Attorneys for Ali Rei, a five-year member of the State Police, filed the lawsuit Friday in US District Court in Boston.
The suit seeks unspecified damages for violation of federal and state rights, civil conspiracy, and emotional distress.
The lawsuit was filed three days after her partner, Trooper Ryan Sceviour, filed a lawsuit alleging he also was pressured into changing his report into the arrest of Alli Bibaud, daughter of Dudley District Court Judge Timothy Bibaud.
Governor Charlie Baker has ordered an investigation into the allegations that the troopers were ordered to alter their reports.
On Friday, Colonial Richard D. McKeon abruptly retired as head of the State Police.
Rei claims she was told to shred and redact reports containing crude statements made by the judge’s daughter after she was arrested on Oct. 16 for crashing her car on Interstate 190 in Worcester.
But Rei did not follow the order, according to the lawsuit.
The troopers responded to the crash, and suspected that Bibaud was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and Bibaud later admitted to using heroin and drinking nips of alcohol, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that McKeon and Major Susan Anderson ordered her to “ . . . not include any statements regarding sexual acts in her . . . report, despite the fact that statements were clearly relevant to the crimes with which Ms. Bibaud was being charged,’’ the complaint states.
But Rei refused the order, even though she could face discipline, including possibly losing her job.
“Trooper Rei suffered and continues to suffer from severe emotional distress as a result of the orders that were given to her by Major Anderson to commit illegal acts,’’ the complaint states.
A lawyer representing Rei said she believed the order given to her was illegal.
“She’s aware that she disobeyed an order from her superior, which she understood to be illegal,’’ Rei’s lawyer Lenny Kesten said Sunday night by telephone.
“But she does not know how the state is going to react to this,’’ he added.
“Trooper Rei has been in fear . . . of what will happen to her if she disobeys orders,’’ Kesten said.
A State Police spokesman declined to comment on Rei’s lawsuit.
“We will respond in the appropriate venue, before the court,’’ the spokesman, David Procopio, said in an e-mail.
State Police officials have previously said it is acceptable for a commander to edit police reports, and that the details about Bibaud allegedly offering sexual acts are unrelated to the charges, according to past Boston Globe articles.
But Rei’s lawsuit contends that the details are “clearly relevant.’’
Kesten, who also represents Sceviour, said the lawsuits will “get to the bottom of who participated in these illegal acts.’’
Rei and Sceviour are still state troopers and work under Anderson’s supervision, the lawyer said.
J.D. Capelouto can be reached at jd.capelouto@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jdcapelouto.