Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Rosi O'Connell's lies, which included testimony the judge characterized as "perjury," cost the former postal worker the best job he ever had, put him through a publicized criminal trial, and will cost the U.S. government at least $72,000 in damages.
But they have not cost O'Connell her job.
Tags: Rosi O'Connell , Brian Bowles , United States Postal Service , Hartford Post Office , U.S. Court of Federal Claims , Web Only , Image
Monday, August 26, 2019
"This individual is not american, he is dangerous, he wants to carry firearms and I heard him say that he wants to harm individuals with said firearms," said that tip, submitted though an online portal. The agency asked a Vermont State Police trooper to find and interview the man named.
A trooper conducted a vehicle stop. The man was with his wife and their newborn child, according to an affidavit filed by Homeland Security Special Agent Timothy O'Leary.
Tags: Cole Swarkowski , Immigration and Customs Enforcement , racism , University of Vermont Medical Center , U.S. District of Vermont , federal court , harassment , Web Only , Image
Friday, August 23, 2019
The Vermont Supreme Court on Friday ruled that a police affidavit from the student's high-profile arrest is a public record even though a judge did not find probable cause for the misdemeanor charge against him.
Tags: Public records , University of Vermont , racism , free speech , Wesley Richter , Jacob Oblak , University of Vermont Police Services , Vermont Supreme Court , arrest records , probable cause , Web Only , Image
Thursday, August 22, 2019
The owners of Ridin' High Skate Shop, John Van Hazinga and Samantha Steady, face federal conspiracy charges for growing marijuana and selling it out of their eccentric Burlington storefront, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.
It's the second downtown business to be raided this year for dealing pot.
The feds allege Van Hazinga, also known as "Big John," and Steady ran a grow operation at their Underhill home, then sold the drug and THC-infused edibles out of their skateboard shop at the corner of Pearl and Battery streets, within sight of the Burlington police headquarters.
Tags: Cannabeat , John Van Hazinga , Ridin' High , Burlington , DEA , cannabis , marijuana , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Michael Ferguson was one of two St. Albans police officers seen on body camera video that captured their former supervisor Jason Lawton roughing up the woman in a holding cell last March. Ferguson resigned from the department in June, the day after the police chief ordered an internal investigation into the incident. Lawton, a sergeant, was later fired, and the third officer, Zachary Koch, was suspended without pay for an unspecified period because he failed to report Lawton's misconduct.
But the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, which hired Ferguson in July as a full-time deputy assigned to court security, was unaware of the excessive force probe, or that Ferguson had resigned amid it, until Seven Days and other news outlets published the body cam footage last week.
Ferguson's new employer placed him on administrative leave last week while it assessed his involvement in the case.
Tags: Franklin County Sheriff's Office , Michael Ferguson , St Albans police , Jason Lawton , Zachary Koch , excessive force , police misconduct , Web Only , Image , Video
Thursday, August 8, 2019
Ferguson was one of two junior officers who helped subdue an intoxicated woman in the police station in March, seconds after Sgt. Jason Lawton punched the handcuffed woman in the face.
Lawton was fired, but only after the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont asked for video of the incident months later, Seven Days reported this week. Chief Gary Taylor said he opened an investigation into whether the other officers seen in the video were culpable in the abuse.
Tags: St. Albans Police Department , Franklin County Sheriff's Office , Michael Ferguson , Jason Lawton , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Officer Michael Ferguson, who’d been on the force for about three months before the March incident, quit on June 4, one day after the police chief ordered an investigation of the incident. Lawton was put on administrative leave June 12 and fired on July 1.
An internal investigation of Officer Zachary Koch is expected to wrap up by the end of this week, Taylor said. He noted that Koch, who had about eight months on the force at the time of the incident, was “the least culpable of the three.”
Lawton was the shift supervisor on duty that night, but both junior officers violated departmental policies and procedures by not intervening during the beating or immediately reporting what had happened to another higher up, according to the police chief.
“In this case, I would say that Ferguson and Koch fell down in their responsibility to do that,” Taylor said. “I would hope that we would intervene, but even in cases where intervention doesn’t occur, I would expect an immediate notification or referral.”
Koch and Ferguson were both probationary officers, and Taylor said it's possible they were intimidated or scared about telling on their superior — though that's no excuse, he added.
“One doesn’t have to look at that situation very long to figure out it’s just wrong,” the chief said. Despite that, he said, “the only person whose actions I felt rose to the level of being criminal was Sgt. Lawton.”
The Vermont State Police has confirmed it’s investigating the incident.
Tags: Jason Lawton , St. Albans , police , Vermont , Sgt. , Gary Taylor , chief , Michael Ferguson , Zachary Koch , Web Only , Image , Video
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Tuomey has been on leave since July 11, Corredera said. He wouldn't specify what type of leave — administrative, medical, personal or otherwise — and whether the chief took it voluntarily.
Tuomey was not suspended, nor was she escorted or barred from campus, Corredera added. Asked if her absence is tied to an internal investigation, Corredera declined to say. Tuomey is being paid while on leave and made $124,441 last fiscal year, according to Corredera.
The UVM chief isn't the only Queen City police official on leave: Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo is on family and medical leave, according to a city press release sent out last Friday. A return date for del Pozo, Burlington's top cop since September 2015, is "to be determined." Deputy Chief Jan Wright is serving in his stead.
Del Pozo was badly injured in a June 2018 bicycle crash and was out of work recuperating for more than two months. The city gave no indication that his current leave is related to those injuries.
Tags: University of Vermont Police , UVM , police , Burlington Police , Lianne Tuomey , Brandon del Pozo , Web Only , Image
Monday, August 5, 2019
Sgt. Jason Lawton has since been fired, according to St. Albans Police Chief Gary Taylor. The chief said he’s referred the incident to Vermont State Police to review for potential criminal charges.
“I think that his actions in this case are a poor reflection of the values of the people who make up this organization,” Taylor said.
Amy Connelly, 35, of Highgate, was arrested March 14 after she drunkenly ripped a man’s shirt inside Shooters Saloon in St. Albans, and then refused to leave, police documents say. Authorities leveled charges of disorderly conduct and unlawful mischief against Connelly.
She was taken to the St. Albans Police Department. There, she allegedly kicked Lawton in the shin. He charged her with simple assault.
But police video of the incident, captured from different angles and filed in court last Thursday, does not support the assault allegation, according to attorney Albert Fox. Rather, he wrote, in a motion asking the judge to throw out the charges, the footage shows Lawton assaulting Connelly, and represents “an absolute miscarriage of justice and a shameful abandonment of the duty police officers owe the public.”
Tags: Jason Lawton , St. Albans Police Department , punch , Amy Connelly , assault , excessive force , police , fired , Gary Taylor , chief , Albert Fox , Web Only , Image , Video
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
The stickers — which depict a sickle, the slogan “Better Dead Than Red” and Patriot Front’s web address — were affixed to the King Street side of the Turning Point Center building on South Winooski Avenue. The wall displays wayfinding signs for Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington, Migrant Justice, the Vermont Workers' Center and 350Vermont, all of which have space in the building at 179 South Winooski.
After receiving a complaint, officers removed the stickers around 8 a.m. Wednesday, Det. Tom Chenette said.
“We tend to get a lot of calls about them,” Chenette said of such stickers. “They are absolutely bias-motivated and absolutely targeting these institutions.”
Tags: Patriot Front , Burlington , stickers , hate group , Miro Weinberger , Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington , Migrant Justice , 350Vermont , Vermont Workers' Center , Web Only , Image