Tuesday, June 2, 2020
He will take over for Michele Asch, whose three-year term expires on June 30. Asch announced during the commission's monthly meeting that she did not plan to seek reappointment to her post, citing other professional endeavors.
Gamache told fellow commissioners that they would need to have "hard and uncomfortable conversations" in the weeks ahead.
"Frankly, enough is kind of enough," he said, an apparent allusion to the death of George Floyd last week in Minneapolis police custody, which has set off protests nationwide. "People are looking to us for leadership and accountability. We need to deliver."
The young bartender was one of three black men appointed to the commission last July in the weeks following allegations of Burlington police brutality against people of color. Their contentious appointments gave the seven-member panel a majority-minority makeup.
Tags: Jabulani Gamache , Burlington Police Commission , Burlington Police Department , Web Only , Image
Sunday, May 31, 2020
Harmony Edosomwan, who led a protest that drew a crowd of hundreds to Battery Park, stood in the bed of a pickup truck parked behind police headquarters at One North Avenue, which is next to the park. Demonstrators, like those in cities across the country, had turned out to protest police brutality after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Interim Burlington Police Chief Jennifer Morrison and Deputy Chief Jon Murad had come out in an apparent attempt to have a dialogue with protesters. Both of the top cops, like many of the protesters, wore face masks.
Morrison had previously released a statement condemning Floyd's death as "an atrocity." She added in her statement: "It is horrifying and a perversion of everything that American police are meant to do."
Tags: Harmony Edosomwan , Chief Jennifer Morrison , Deputy Chief John Murad , Burlington Police Department , One North Avenue , Web Only , Image , Slideshow
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Sean Manovill said he wheeled cardio machines and free weights into the parking lot on Tuesday morning, arguing that a temporary restraining order handed down by a judge last week only applies to indoor activities.
"I'm definitely not in contempt of court," he said. "Absolutely not. I'm not doing anything that is wrong."
Attorney General T.J. Donovan sued Manovill last Friday following failed negotiations with the gym owner, who had opened the business in defiance of state mandates intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Just hours after the lawsuit was filed, a Rutland Superior Court judge sided with the state and prohibited Club Fitness from conducting "any in-person, indoor operations" so long as Gov. Phil Scott's executive order remains in effect.
Manovill's gym reopened in some capacity anyway, WCAX-TV reported Monday, citing the gym owner himself.
Tags: Club Fitness of Vermont , Sean Manovill , T.J. Donovan , coronavirus , COVID-19 , Web Only , Image
Friday, May 15, 2020
The ruling came just hours after Attorney General T.J. Donovan filed a civil lawsuit in Rutland Superior Court accusing Sean Manovill of illegally operating two Club Fitness gyms and not taking basic steps to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 at his businesses.
The judge's order forces the gyms in Rutland and Castleton to close until further notice. The state is also asking a judge to issue penalties of up to $1,000 for each day Manovill violated the order, and for him to reimburse the state for its investigative and court costs.
Tags: Club Fitness of Vermont , Sean Manovill , T.J. Donovan , Vermont Attorney General's Office , Stay at Home Order , Coronavirus , covid-19 , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Taylor, who is also the chief of the city fire department, will retire from both positions on December 31. The transition plan calls for division commanders to begin assuming some leadership duties in the months ahead, city manager Dominic Cloud told Seven Days on Tuesday. If the city is able to hire a new chief before the end of the year, Taylor will assume other duties until his retirement date.
"This was very much a voluntary transition on the chief's part," Cloud said. "I think in his gut, he began to see it was time to bring in new leadership."
Tags: Gary Taylor , Dominic Cloud , St Albans Police Department , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Vermont has created an online reporting tool that allows people to tell on those that they suspect are violating Gov. Phil Scott's "Stay Home, Stay Safe" executive order.
It's proven quite popular: More than 270 people filed complaints between April 1 and 15, according to a ream of redacted public records obtained by Seven Days.
State troopers are leaning toward education instead of ticketing. And cops in Burlington, home to the most complaints filed with 17, say they have yet to cite or arrest anyone for violating the governor's executive order.
Tags: coronavirus , COVID-19 , Vermont State Police , executive order , Gov. Phil Scott , Web Only , Image
Monday, May 4, 2020
Amy Connelly, of Highgate, was in a holding cell at the police station on March 14, 2019, when then-sergeant Jason Lawton pushed her into a wall, then delivered an uppercut to her right eye. Two other officers, Zachary Koch and Michael Ferguson, helped Lawton restrain her on the floor.
Connelly's civil lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court of Vermont, names all three officers, Chief Gary Taylor and the city. She contends that the police department subjected her to illegal detention and excessive force, violating her constitutional and statutory rights.
The complaint also charges that the city failed to properly screen officers during its hiring process and that Taylor did not "adequately control, train, supervise and discipline police officers under his command."
Tags: Amy Connelly , City of St Albans , Gary Taylor , Jason Lawton , Zachary Koch , Michael Ferguson , Dominic Cloud , Tim Smith , ACLU of Vermont , Web Only , Image
Friday, May 1, 2020
These are the first new cases identified since the initial prison-wide round of testing was conducted on April 8. Forty-five inmates and 17 employees have now tested positive since the outbreak was detected nearly a month ago.
The new cases were acknowledged on Friday, even as officials said 16 of the other infected prisoners have recovered from weeks of medical isolation at a quarantine prison in St. Johnsbury. Three other COVID-19-positive inmates have been released.
"The inmates who tested positive were already in a quarantined unit thanks to the hard work of our contact-tracing team working with the Vermont Department of Health, who determined they may have interacted with a positive inmate from our first round of testing,” Department of Corrections interim Commissioner Jim Baker said in a press release.
Last week, Department of Corrections officials expressed hope that their quick action to isolate and transfer infected residents had contained the outbreak. The COVID-19 virus is believed to have an incubation period of 14 days, and no remaining inmates at Northwest had shown symptoms for at least that long.
The state retested the 155 inmates in recent days, leading to the discovery of seven new cases.
Those seven prisoners were transferred to Northeast Correctional Complex in St. Johnsbury for quarantine, Human Services Secretary Mike Smith said during Gov. Phil Scott's press conference on Friday.
Asked if officials still believed the outbreak at Northwest was contained, Smith congratulated the Department of Corrections.
"They have done an amazing job," he said.
Results of 154 employee tests are still pending.
Tags: Coronavirus , covid-19 , northwest state correctional facility , mike smith , Web Only , Image
Friday, April 24, 2020
Ridin' High owner John Van Hazinga, jailed for dealing pot from his Burlington skate shop, was released this week over concerns about the coronavirus outbreak at the prison where he was confined.
Van Hazinga was awaiting sentencing on a federal drug charge at Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans when signs of outbreak emerged on April 1. He asked a federal judge to release him pending sentencing the following day.
Tags: John Van Hazinga , Northwest State Correctional Facility , Michael Hayes , Jim Baker , Department of Corrections , Coronavirus , COVID-19 , Web Only , Image
Thursday, April 23, 2020
In a lengthy statement released Thursday, Mayor Tim Smith continued to defend the department and longtime Chief Gary Taylor, who he said has "transformed" the force in recent years. Smith also detailed the existing "recruitment gauntlet" that would-be cops must pass. But the weekend arrest of officer Zachary Pigeon for sexual assault, kidnapping and other charges suggested that further changes are needed, Smith wrote.
"The Pigeon allegations indicate that we also need to increase the effectiveness of our recruitment and selection programs and ensure we are providing the training that reflects our values," the statement said.
Tags: St. Albans Police Department , City of St Albans , Tim Smith , Gary Taylor , Zachary Pigeon , Jason Lawton , Web Only , Image