Tragic end to sordid life
Helder "Sonny" Peixoto's demise last week was dramatic, but seemed in character to those who recall the career of a man who was once one of the city's most feared police officers, a bona fide rogue cop.
Peixoto apparently leaped to his death from an 11th-floor balcony in West Palm Beach on May 30. Before he died, he apparently took the life of his girlfriend, Amity Kozak, who was found slain in his bed as friends of Peixoto were looking for a suicide note.
Peixoto lasted just five years on the MBTA police force, years marked by unprofessional behavior. He was protected by a since-deposed MBTA police hierarchy that defended his often indefensible actions.
Minister Don Muhammad of the Nation of Islam was one of those who indirectly came in the path of Peixoto's conduct.
His daughter, Shirley Carrington, was driving down Warren Street near Dudley Square about four years ago when she encountered Peixoto.
Peixoto turned on his siren and pulled her over. He said she hadn't stopped immediately, though she had. He released a man in his cruiser so he could arrest Carrington, took away her diabetes medication, and had her locked up.
When Muhammad and Carrington's husband next saw her she was in Judge Edward Redd's courtroom in Roxbury District Court. Redd immediately realized she was in custody for no good reason and ordered her released. Carrington sued the MBTA for wrongful arrest; the T settled the case for $75,000.
Peixoto's conduct was not out of character, Muhammad said. "One of the cops came up to me and said: 'Peixoto is not one of us. He has power at the State House,' " Muhammad recalled this week. "This guy had so much juice."
Muhammad links the tragedy in Florida directly to the failure to recognize and deal with Peixoto's abusive personality. "We've got a woman who is dead because he killed her," he said. "Someone should have gotten him off the force. It is a tragedy and falls directly at the feet of the people who enabled him."
Peixoto is an example of the failure of police departments to police themselves. He was accused of using excessive force and tossing around racial slurs in 2000. He was suspended for threatening his former wife's lover, as well as a Boston police officer, in 2001. It took a vehicular homicide conviction to end his police career. And even then -- because he had filed suit against the department, claiming racial discrimination -- he was allowed to resign rather than be fired, under the terms of a confidential agreement.
It's outrageous that he was allowed to negotiate his departure. And it remains a mystery why his conduct was not dealt with more forcefully by his superiors. Perhaps, as Muhammad suggests, he had powerful friends. Or maybe his charm, which acquaintances say he was capable of turning on when he wanted, enabled him to ride out his controversies.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the agency could not comment on the agreement that led to his departure or on Peixoto's performance on the force. The question of why he had not been terminated is at the heart of a pending civil suit, filed by the victim's survivors, stemming from the vehicular homicide case.
About four years ago, Peixoto reinvented himself as a Palm Beach socialite, a sudden fixture on the city's party circuit. Some of his new pals were told that he was a retired cop who had received a massive disability settlement. He had traveled a long way from terrorizing innocent people on the streets of Roxbury.
Then again, maybe not. The flair for dishonesty he showed here apparently served him well in Florida, at least for a while. But his penchant for abusing his power didn't seem to have abated.
Peixoto's suicide would be sad enough on its own, though it is made much worse by the presence of an innocent victim. Peixoto had many innocent victims. The others lived to tell, and this week they feel fortunate.
Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com. 
