Attorneys for men claiming excessive force by Burlington police contend that Brandon del Pozo lied under oath in written testimony related to their civil litigation.

The former Burlington police chief resigned Monday after revelations last week that he used an anonymous Twitter account to mock a critic, then lied about it repeatedly during an interview in July with Seven Days.
Del Pozo is a named defendant in pending civil lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court by black men who allege excessive force by Burlington cops in two separate incidents last year.

During discovery in the cases, the plaintiffs' attorneys asked del Pozo a series of questions about his social media accounts, including which accounts he’d used and whether he had deleted any.

In an October 30 response, in which del Pozo "swore to the truth of the information," the chief did not disclose the since-deleted @WinkleWatchers Twitter account he used in July and wrote that none of the accounts he used have been deleted, according to court documents made public Monday. 
The former chief was also asked to list all legal actions, including any “administrative proceeding,” to which he was a party.

Del Pozo was initially placed on administrative leave in late July after telling Mayor Miro Weinberger about his anonymous Twitter account and his subsequent denial to a Seven Days reporter. The investigation resulted in a medical leave that began August 1. He returned to his post September 16. City officials never publicly disclosed the preceding administrative investigation until last week.
Del Pozo’s discovery responses, filed October 30 and November 6, did not mention it, either.

Deputy Chief Jan Wright and the city attorney’s office assisted in preparing del Pozo's responses, the former chief wrote in the filings.

Attorneys for the men, Evan Chadwick and Robb Spensley, asked the judge in both cases Monday to issue a default judgment in favor of their clients based on what they characterized as the city’s false answers given during discovery.

“It is a fraud perpetrated on the Court when a chief law enforcement officer, with a masters degree in criminal justice and with assistance from counsel, including the City of Burlington legal department, knowingly provides false answers under oath to legitimate discovery questions,” they wrote.
They also asked the court to impose punitive damages against the city of $50,000 in each case.

City Attorney Eileen Blackwood initially said Monday that she did not review del Pozo’s filings, only those submitted by the city itself. The city is represented in the cases by outside counsel Lynn, Lynn, Blackman & Manitsky, P.C. The firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Blackwood later clarified in an email to Seven Days that an assistant city attorney did help prepare the response. That attorney was unaware of del Pozo's Twitter "account issue."

Wright, who has been named acting chief, did not immediately return phone messages for comment.

At a press conference Monday announcing the chief’s resignation, Weinberger said questions over del Pozo’s credibility in future legal matters was part of the conversation between the pair Sunday night.

Chadwick declined to comment Monday afternoon.

View the full motion for sanctions below:

Correction, 3:23 p.m.: This story has been updated to correct a comment from Burlington City Attorney Eileen Blackwood regarding who reviewed del Pozo's written responses in the lawsuits.

Updated at 3:23 p.m.

Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo has resigned, days after admitting he created an anonymous Twitter account to harass a local political activist, Mayor Miro Weinberger said on Monday.

The mayor, who had defended the city's top cop last week, announced the news at a press conference at the Burlington Police Department's headquarters on North Avenue.

"I will miss him greatly, and I believe Burlington will as well," Weinberger told members of the media.

Deputy Police Chief Jan Wright will serve as acting chief, the mayor said: "I will have more to share about the appointment of a permanent chief in the days to come."

Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo admitted Thursday to creating an anonymous Twitter account to troll a critic. He also conceded that he'd lied to a Seven Days reporter who asked him about the account in July. In a written statement Friday, Mayor Miro Weinberger described his chief as not having "been forthright with a reporter about those tweets."

"It's 45 minutes of my life spent anonymously tweeting someone in a snarky way that does not befit the chief of police," del Pozo said at an impromptu press conference Friday, "and then, to be candid, denying it out of embarrassment to a reporter, which I think is the more serious problem."

Del Pozo went on to say he felt his "throat choking up" during the July 23 phone call with this reporter.

A review of  the audio recording of the 36-minute interview showed that the chief lied nearly a dozen times about what he'd done.

Signs posted throughout Vermont's prisons encourage victims of sexual misconduct, physical violence and discrimination to dial what's known as the Offender Reporting Line.

"It is never too late to report!" one sign reads.

But unlike similar hotlines at prisons throughout the U.S., Vermont's does not connect to an independent, third-party organization. Rather, callers are directed to the central office of the state Department of Corrections. From there, according to Corrections Commissioner Mike Touchette, complaints are forwarded to a prison superintendent, deputy commissioner or other department official.

That's a problem, according to Lovisa Stannow, executive director of the Los Angeles, Calif.-based prisoner advocacy group Just Detention International.

"Corrections agencies must give prisoners a way to get crisis support from an outside entity, including through a hotline," Stannow said. "It is absolutely crucial that officials clearly explain to prisoners how such services work, and who runs them. If survivors can’t trust that their attempts to get help will be confidential, many will stay quiet."

Updated at 4:42 p.m.

Gov. Phil Scott has appointed William “Bill” Cohen of Rutland to the Vermont Supreme Court.

A superior court justice in Rutland for the last 20 years, Cohen fills a vacancy created by the September 1 retirement of Justice Marilyn Skoglund, who departed after 22 years on the state’s highest court.

“Bill understands the needs of Vermonters as well as the challenges facing the judiciary and the justice system,” Scott said in a statement released Thursday morning. “Among a very strong candidate pool, Bill distinguished himself as someone with the right experience, temperament and character to serve the judiciary with excellence as an associate justice.”

In an interview, Cohen said he was “extremely happy” to be appointed but would also miss the close relationships he has built in Bennington, where he is the presiding judge.

He described himself as a moderate and his judicial philosophy as “to attempt as best I can to not judge out of fear or favor.”

Updated at 9:13 p.m.

Gov. Phil Scott on Wednesday ordered Human Services Secretary Mike Smith to “thoroughly investigate” allegations reported by Seven Days of officer misconduct at Vermont’s sole prison for women.

In a statement released late Wednesday, Smith said he was “deeply concerned” about allegations made by inmates and officers at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, and he vowed to take action. “If any of what has been reported is true, we have a problem,” the secretary said. “We’re going to find that problem and we’re going to solve it.”

Hours earlier, Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George said she planned to review the sentences of 20 female inmates her office has sent to the South Burlington prison and who remain incarcerated there. If appropriate, George said, she may seek their release from the facility.
The Seven Days investigation found credible allegations of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen of the prison’s officers since it became home to female inmates in August 2011. Officers and inmates alike alleged that prison officials ignored complaints and retaliated against those who lodged them.

Activists have called for an emergency demonstration Tuesday morning to protest the Chittenden County Sheriff's Department over its role in the recent detainment of a 21-year-old farmworker.

Advocacy group Migrant Justice has accused Deputy Jeffry Turner of violating the department's policies on fair and impartial policing during a November 22 traffic stop of a car along Interstate 89.

Turner pulled over the vehicle for speeding and asked its passengers to provide identification. When Luis Ulloa, who lives in Franklin County, presented a Mexican passport, the deputy photographed the document, contacted U.S. Border Patrol agents and prevented the vehicle from leaving until they arrived, Migrant Justice said in a press release Monday.

Updated on November 26, 2019.

Vermont officials are proposing to close the state’s only locked detention center for delinquent children next year, citing a drop in youth crime and a shift away from housing youth in such facilities.

The number of kids that were housed each day at Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in Essex had been cut in half over the past four years, from as many as 25 to fewer than 12 last year, said Ken Schatz, commissioner of the Department for Children and Families.
The department oversees the facility, which houses children between the ages of 10 and 17. But the declining numbers led to discussion last year about whether to close the spartan center, build a smaller one, or construct a larger, $23 million campus with several buildings

“The legislature made it pretty clear they weren’t interested in that proposal,” Schatz said of the third option.

After expanding the number of beds at existing community-based youth programs, the department saw the numbers housed at Woodside drop sharply over the summer, to fewer than five per day, he said.

Last Thursday, there were no wards at the center for the first time since it was built in 1986.

St. Albans Police Chief Gary Taylor has repeatedly said that he didn't know a sergeant in his department had punched a handcuffed woman in the face until months after the March incident.

But a recently retired St. Albans cop told investigators conducting a criminal probe into the matter that he'd alerted Taylor about the altercation the day after it happened.

“I have no reason to lie about this. I know what I did,” Paul Morits told Seven Days in an interview Monday. “Whether [Taylor] wants to admit it or not, that will be on his conscience.”

Morits, a corporal, provided the alternate timeline in sworn testimony to the Vermont State Police, who began investigating former sergeant Jason Lawton in August, at Taylor's request. Lawton was arrested last week and charged with simple assault; he pleaded not guilty to the charge in Franklin County Superior Court on Monday.
The charge stems from a March 14 incident during which Lawton slugged a handcuffed and intoxicated Amy Connelly inside a holding cell at the St. Albans Police Department. Connelly, who'd been arrested earlier that night at a local bar, was taken to the hospital.

In an op-ed published Wednesday in the New York Times, Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo calls on law enforcement officers to "fundamentally" change the way they use their guns and deal with people in crisis — especially when they are wielding knives.

Describing a hypothetical situation, del Pozo writes that officers almost always point a gun at a knife-wielding person and shout commands. If the person advances, the officers shoot, and everyone loses, he writes. 

"Each year, American police officers shoot and kill well over 125 people armed with knives, many of them in this manner," del Pozo writes. "The public has grown impatient with seeing the same approach produce a predictably tragic result."

The chief urges his counterparts around the nation to start training officers as if their weapons were "insurance policies" rather than "persuasive devices," and suggests that American police take lessons from their unarmed colleagues across the pond.