The state is declining to prosecute two state troopers for their involvement in a non-fatal December shooting in Bristol.
Vermont State Police Troopers Robert Helm and Matthew Hood shot Greg West on Dec. 3, 2019. On Tuesday, the Attorney General’s Office announced that the officers’ actions were justified, and “consistent with Vermont law.”
The incident occurred when the two officers responded to a 911 call to Lower Notch Road in Bristol, finding 28-year-old West at the end of a steep driveway, holding a shotgun. One of West’s relatives had called police earlier that night, reporting that West was intoxicated and threatening, and had damaged the home, which had several children inside.
The troopers reportedly attempted to de-escalate the situation “with verbal exchanges” for several minutes, according to the attorney general’s report, but when West pointed the shotgun in their direction, both officers opened fire with their patrol rifles, stopping once West hit the ground and dropped his weapon. He was shot multiple times.
West was taken by helicopter to the University of Vermont Medical Center, where he had emergency surgery that left him in critical but stable condition.
One officer from the Bristol Police Department also responded to the scene, though that officer did not fire his weapon.
The shooting was the fifth officer-involved shooting in Vermont in 2019, the most in any single year.
Seventeen people died at the hands of police in Vermont in the 2010s, a sharp increase from previous decades, despite the state’s overall population remaining static. In each of the state’s police-involved deaths since 1974, the officers were cleared of wrongdoing by the Attorney General’s Office.
West is currently facing criminal charges for aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and interference with access to emergency services. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in February, with a court date originally set for April.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Troopers cleared in non-fatal Bristol shooting.