St. Albans Police Chief Gary Taylor, far left, answers questions from resident Elaine Robtoy during a public comment period at the city council meeting on August 12. Photo by Alexandre Silberman/VTDigger
ST. ALBANS – The St. Albans City Council stood by Police Chief Gary Taylor as he spoke on Monday night about internal policy changes following an incident where an officer punched a handcuffed woman in her holding cell.
Mayor Tim Smith addressed the small crowd of about 15 people after the chief’s remarks. He said that being a police officer is not an easy job.
“I am thankful for the police force that we have and the people that represent St. Albans,” he said. “There is much more good than negative.”
The other council members remained silent before moving on to the next agenda item for Monday’s regular meeting.
“I think I speak for the full council when I say, we support the chief, he’s addressing the situation and we’re going to move forward with corrective policies,” Smith said.
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. Connelly was transported to the police department. After she allegedly kicked Sgt. Jason Lawton in the shin, the officer struck her in the eye while her hands were handcuffed behind her back.
Taylor said he first heard about the incident when the ACLU filed a public records request for 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.
Taylor was called to address the council at its monthly meeting after the incident became public through news reports last week.
During a brief public comment period, Elaine Robtoy, 68, asked Taylor why he hired Lawton after he was involved in a bogus traffic stop in 2012, while employed by the Shelburne Police Department. That incident led to a federal lawsuit and undisclosed settlement, according to the court filing.
Robtoy asked the chief what kind of background check he conducts for recruits.
Smith jumped in before Taylor could respond.
“I want to be careful here, this isn’t an interrogation,” he said.
Taylor said he conducts “exhaustive” background checks and investigates personnel files from previous departments. He said out of 10 applicants, only about two make it through the screening process.
Taylor acknowledged he was aware of the problematic traffic stop before hiring Lawton, and spoke to the Shelburne Police chief about it.
“He told me it was a misinterpretation, a misunderstanding of the issue,” Taylor said of the traffic stop.
Amy Connelly’s eye was badly injured by a punch from Sergeant Jason Lawton , who has been fired.
“I’m ashamed of our police department right now, I really am,” said Robtoy, the only member of the public who took the opportunity to speak on the matter.
Connelly faces two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct, unlawful mischief and received an additional count of assault for allegedly kicking Lawton in the shin. Her attorney has filed a motion asked for the charges to be dismissed, accompanied by the video of the incident.
Taylor told the city council it was not the threat of public scrutiny that prompted his actions in response to the incident. “I will tell you that it wasn’t because of the clout of the ACLU. Anybody making that records request, we would have engaged in the same action,” he said.
According to Taylor, it took two and a half months — and the records request — before he or other supervisors even became aware of the incident.
But the chief said there was “no reluctance to act” on the part of his department. “No one had to tell us what to do here or encourage us to do the right thing,” Taylor said.
Previously, officers would file a “response to resistance” form which would not raise flags for further review. 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 told the mayor and council that the original policy the department had for use of force was “flawed” because it relied heavily on self reporting and use of supervisors.
He said officers only had to physically engage due to resistance 26 times last year. Incidents of that nature will always be reviewed in the future under the policy change, he added.
Smith, the mayor, asked Taylor if any other policy improvements were being considered.
The chief said its internal investigation policy has been heavily reviewed, but he reminded the council that he has to work with the police officers union regarding policy changes. He also said strict policies could impact recruitment.
“There’s a very fine line between too heavy handed and being right where I need to be. Because nobody wants to work for somebody who throws them under the bus when they’re trying to do the right thing and things go awry,” Taylor said. “And I think we have to move cautiously when something happens to ensure that we know what the facts were.”
Mayor Smith concluded by telling the crowd the city is going to correct the situation.
“We will be a better city and we’ll be a better police department because of this,” he said.
Outside the city council chamber, Robtoy said in an interview she doesn’t know if her confidence in the St. Albans Police Department will be able to be restored after the violent incident.
“I can’t even believe it happened,” she said.
Read the story on VTDigger here: St. Albans City Council backs police chief after punching incident.