Massachusetts officials withheld autopsy reports from feds

BOSTON (FOX25, myfoxboston) - A federal report on the deaths of two Boston firefighters didn't look at autopsy results for the men because state officials refused to release the records at the request of the victims' families.

Paul Cahill and Warren Payne died in August 2007 at a West Roxbury restaurant fire. Boston media have cited unnamed officials as saying toxicology tests showed Cahill was drunk and Payne had cocaine in his system. Those tests have not been made public.

A spokesman for the state medical examiner's office says the autopsy reports were not handed over to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health because the state lacked the "clear legal authority" to do so.

A federal investigator said the reports may have shed more light on the fire.