Quechee West Hartford Road between Winding Brook Lane and Howard Road is closed Monday morning, as police investigate a Sunday night incident where they say a trooper shot at a suspect in a domestic assault who had been carrying a shotgun. The suspect was then subdued him with a stun gun, police said. Photo by Jennifer Hauck/Valley News
This story was updated Monday afternoon.
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A 19-year-old Quechee man has been ordered held without bail after pleading not guilty Monday to charges he fired a gun into a Hartford home and later attempted to evade arrest, prompting Vermont State Police to fire a shotgun at him and subdue him with a stun gun.
James Luce, 19, was arraigned Monday afternoon in Vermont Superior Court in White River Junction on charges of first-degree aggravated domestic assault, three counts of aggravated assault with a weapon, reckless endangerment, and resisting arrest after he allegedly fired a shotgun at a home at 4536 Quechee West Hartford Road on Sunday evening and then fled on foot into nearby woods.
Luce sustained “minor abrasions,” was assessed by paramedics at the scene, and then taken to Mt. Ascutney Hospital as a precaution, police said.
The trooper, Eric Vitali of the Royalton Barracks, is being placed on paid administrative leave for a minimum of five days.
The incident unfolded around 7:30 p.m. Sunday when Hartford and Lebanon police responded to a call reporting a “domestic assault with shots fired” at the home, according to a Vermont State Police news release. They encountered a man walking in the road near the home with a shotgun.
Although he did not threaten anyone with the shotgun at the time, he did not comply with orders from police, according to the release.
Shortly after that encounter, he was seen by Vermont State Police troopers who also had been called to assist with the incident.
The release said the man “again refused to comply with commands, and a state trooper fired at the suspect one time with a shotgun.” When “the suspect continued to be non-compliant,” police shot him with a stun gun and took him into custody.
Windsor County State’s Attorney David Cahill said the house Luce fired at had three people inside, including a child. He also said Luce at one point had set his shotgun down, but then picked it up again before Vitali shot at him.
No one else was injured in the incident and the Vermont State Police Major Crime Unit is investigating the officer-involved shooting.
Vitali was hired in 2005, and worked out of the Royalton Barracks until 2016, when he transferred to the Westminster Barracks. He returned to Royalton in 2018.
The Vermont Attorney General’s Office and the Windsor County State’s Attorney’s Office will both review the investigation, the release said.
Anyone with information about the incident was asked to call Vermont State Police in Royalton at 802-234-9933.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Quechee man charged after police shot at him.