Editor’s note: This article contains profane language and video footage of graphic violence.
ST. ALBANS – The St. Albans Police Department has changed its internal review policy in wake of an incident where an officer punched a handcuffed woman in her holding cell.
And the American Civil Liberties Union in Vermont says the violent incident, together with a recent spate of police abuse reports in Burlington, highlights the need for an overhaul of how the state deals with and documents police use of force.
Amy Connelly, 35, of Highgate, was arrested on March 14 for allegedly ripping the shirt of the owner at a St. Albans bar while intoxicated and refusing to leave. After being transported to the police department, Sgt. Jason Lawton struck Connelly in the eye while her hands were handcuffed behind her back, after she allegedly kicked him in the shin.
Amy Connelly’s eye was badly injured by a punch from Sgt. Jason Lawton , who has been fired.
Connelly was charged with two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct, unlawful mischief and received an additional count of assault for allegedly kicking Lawton in the shin. She contacted the ACLU of Vermont which obtained body camera footage of Lawton striking Connelly through a public records request.
The videos were filed in Franklin County Superior Court last Thursday. Albert Fox, Connelly’s lawyer, submitted a motion with the footage asking for the charges to be dismissed due to a “blatant miscarriage of justice.”
St. Albans Police Chief Gary Taylor said he first heard about the incident when the ACLU requested the video, prompting him to launch an internal investigation in early June. Lawton was fired on July 1 after the probe concluded, but he is appealing his termination through the police union.
If Taylor’s timeline is correct, it took two and a half months before he or other supervisors even became aware of the incident.
Under the department’s new policy, the patrol commander has to review every instance where an officer physically engages with someone within 48 hours of the incident. Anything suspicious or potentially in violation of policy needs to be reported to the chief.
Taylor said previously, officers would file a “response to resistance” form which would not raise flags for further review.
St. Albans Police Chief Gary Taylor. Photo via Vermont Association of Chiefs of Police.
Last year, the department made 1,062 arrests and took in another 100 people for public inebriation. In about 100 of those situations, an individual resisted being compliant.
“We probably had the same policy most police departments have, and it relies heavily on self reporting, on an accurate description or depiction of what occurred,” Taylor said.
Jay Diaz, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Vermont, said his initial reaction to viewing the body camera footage was that it was “absolute brutality.”
“As it compares to other incidents I’ve seen on video in Vermont, I think just the callousness that Sgt. Lawton displayed to a young woman who was distraught and handcuffed behind the back is not something I had seen before,” he said.
Several recent incidents of police use of force in Burlington have drawn public criticism and lawsuits. Four men have sued the city’s police department alleging brutality in two separate cases last September. Chadwick & Spensley, the Brattleboro-based law firm representing Connelly, is also representing the plaintiffs in those lawsuits.
Burlington police suspended an officer in one of those cases, but did not release information about the alleged abuse until the lawsuits became public records.
ACLU Vermont staff attorney Jay Diaz. Photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDigger
Diaz said the lack of initial oversight and accountability in these cases stems from the absence of state laws around use of force. There are currently no requirements on data collection, reporting or review.
“Most of the time, people are in a pretty vulnerable position and afraid to come forward to complain publicly about police misconduct, because of the potential repercussions,” he said. “So it’s important that people know that it’s good that the St. Albans chief is changing policy, but our state needs to make change here and needs to have have reviews required.”
Adam Silverman, a spokesperson for Vermont State Police, said an investigator has been assigned to review the incident in St. Albans at the request of Taylor.
“Once complete, the investigation will be turned over for independent reviews by the offices of the Franklin County state’s attorney and the Vermont attorney general,” Silverman wrote in an email.
Lawton’s body camera footage shows him eating dinner with another officer as he stops and walks over to Connelly’s cell, opening it and asking her to stop kicking on the door. She can be heard crying in the video.
She says “no,” and stands up with her arms cuffed behind her back.
Lawton then forcefully pushes her back against the wall with his forearm.
“How fucking dare you,” Connelly responds.
Connelly tells another officer out of the picture that Lawton has hurt her.
Lawton yells at her: “Shut up.”
Sgt. Jason Lawton winds up to punch Amy Connelly in a holding cell at the St. Albans police department on March 14, in a still image from bodycam footage.
Connelly can then be seen standing up and raises her leg towards Lawton, who immediately shoves her down onto the cell bench, grabs her shirt near the neck, and punches her in the face. Lawton and two other officers then push her face first towards the ground and cuff her feet.
Lawton tells Connelly she will get an assault charge and go to jail.
“You guys are brutes,” Connelly says.
“Sure,” Lawton answers back.
“You guys are animals,” Connelly says.
In his affidavit, Lawton said the kick caused two out of 10 on a pain scale, but left “lingering discomfort” on his right shin.
“I pushed Connelly back, and delivered a front distraction strike to the right side of her face in an effort to gain control of her,” he wrote. “The strike had the desired effect as it distracted her from her aggressive behavior. She was then shackled on the ground where we applied leg shackles and secured her to the bar in the holding cell.”
Connelly was brought by ambulance to the Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans after waiting in her cell for about 10 minutes. She was uncooperative with medical staff and yelled profanities at them, according to an affidavit from the officer who accompanied her.
After receiving medical attention, Connelly was taken to the Chittenden County Correctional Facility and held on $2,500 bail.
Two other St. Albans officers are seen in the video of the incident. One officer, Michael Ferguson, resigned after a “conversation” and was hired as a deputy sheriff with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department.
Taylor said the third officer, Zachary Koch, “the least culpable,” is currently under suspension and will undergo remedial training.
Fox, Connelly’s lawyer, was out of the office on Thursday. Evan Chadwick, a partner at the firm, said the focus is on dropping the charges but added a lawsuit is “on the table.”
Fox wrote in the motion to dismiss that the video shows the state has “little chance” of achieving a conviction on the simple assault charge.
“No reasonable person after watching the video could suggest that Ms. Connelly is the person who should be facing criminal charges in this matter,” he wrote. “She was assaulted by an officer of the law while in restraints for no justifiable reason.”
The motion further argues that Lawton has “serious credibility issues.”
It references false testimony in traffic court, when Lawton was employed by the Shelburne Police Department in 2012. That incident led to a federal lawsuit and undisclosed settlement, according to the court filing.
Taylor said Lawton’s actions are not representative of the values of the department’s officers.
“Personally, it offends me when any violation of trust occurs between the police and our community, the people that we serve,” he said.
Read the story on VTDigger here: St. Albans police change policy after officer punches handcuffed woman.