SPRINGFIELD -- One of the most dramatic crises in the police department's recent history peaked in a quiet courtroom Wednesday, with instrumental jazz music piped cloyingly through overhead speakers.

Tarnished Springfield Police Officer Gregg A. Bigda was arrested along with a former colleague earlier in the day. Bigda is charged with three counts of deprivation of civil rights and one count of filing a false report in an internal investigation.

He pleaded not guilty to all charges in U.S. District Court and was released without bail.

The ongoing debacle is the outcome of an ill-fated pizza run and a streak of alleged bad judgment surrounding the arrests of three juveniles in 2016, according to reams of police reports and witness statements.

Police Commissioner John R. Barbieri has placed Bigda on unpaid, indefinite leave while the case is pending.

"That could change. Anything is possible," police department spokesman Ryan Walsh said. "But after conferring with the city's labor relations department, Officer Bigda will be suspended indefinitely without pay."

It has been a steep fall from grace for Bigda, once one of the aggressive, fair-haired boys of the narcotics squad -- relied upon for solid court testimony in drug cases and a sentimental favorite for his sharp wit and motivated police work, according to law enforcement sources.

The veteran detective agreed to surrender his firearms and license to carry a weapon to his own department as part of his conditions of pretrial release. He was also ordered to refrain from excessive drinking, a habit a federal prosecutor argued fed into his current plight.

Along with Bigda, former police detective Steven M. Vigneault was arrested and charged with a single count of deprivation of civil rights under color of law. The entire prosecution stems from a messy night in 2016 when a group of kids jumped into an undercover vehicle Vigneault left running outside a pizza shop in Springfield.

According to witnesses, Vigneault stewed over the embarrassment and Bigda drank from a bottle of rum in his top desk drawer.

When the car was spotted speeding through Wilbraham and into Palmer, members of the narcotics unit leaped into action and sped out to the scene as officers from surrounding communities worked to corral four Latino teens who abandoned the car and fled on foot.

A five-count indictment alleges Bigda kicked and beat one of the juvenile suspects while he was in handcuffs and Vigneault joined in by kicking another in the face. Bigda later harangued and threatened two of the boys at the Palmer police department, without having an adult present or reading them their Miranda rights.

Charges against the teens were eventually dismissed, and one has filed a federal lawsuit against Bigda, Vigneault and others.

The interrogations were captured on video at Palmer's police station.

"I'll beat the f--- out of you when (we) get back to Springfield," Bigda told one of the boys.

In another instance, Bigda threatened another suspect that he'd "stick a f---ing kilo of coke in your pocket and put you away for f---ing 15 years."

The irony is: Bigda now faces a 15-year sentence under federal sentencing guidelines if convicted of some of the charges handed up by a grand jury on Oct. 25.

Vigneault faces the same potential penalty. He resigned in 2016 over the kicking allegation, while Bigda was suspended for 60 days when the video footage came to light. One of the teen suspects has sued the department over the alleged beating in federal court. That case is pending.

After Vigneault's arraignment, defense lawyer Daniel D. Kelly said Vigneault maintains his innocence.

"He said it to me and I can't say it any better: He said 'I did nothing wrong.' He looks forward to his day in court," Kelly said.

Also pending is an administrative review of the narcotics unit's "patterns and practices" by the U.S. Department of Justice. That is a parallel investigation to the criminal probe that spanned nearly two years and resulted in Wednesday's arrests.

While Bigda -- relegated to the records unit since his 2016 suspension -- was forced Wednesday to surrender the trappings of the job, including his badge and service weapon, Vigneault endured those indignities two years ago.

Complicating the workforce fiasco, Bigda and Vigneault dated the same woman, another police officer. Bigda drunkenly confronted Vigneault and the woman at her home within weeks of the Palmer incident, which prompted a 10-day suspension for Bigda and a temporary restraining order.

Months later, Vigneault found himself also at odds with the woman and is currently subject to a year-long restraining order. He was twice arrested for violating that order in 2017 -- not by acts of violence, but by sending the woman texts and buying her unwanted gifts, she said.

The two scenarios hit an awkward intersection on March 1, 2017 as he was arrested by members of his onetime department coming out of the federal courthouse after meeting with prosecutors discussing his prospective testimony against his former colleagues.

Vigneault's stock with the feds apparently plummeted rather recently, as he went from valued cooperating witness to an indicted defendant.

Bigda left the federal courthouse Wednesday wordlessly as photographers from multiple media outlets dogged his steps up State Street.

A pretrial conference is set for both defendants for Jan. 24.