ST. JOHNSBURY — Officers acted within policy during last month’s Black Lives Matter protest, according to a town-contracted investigation of police conduct that day, except for the police chief, who wore no body camera amid the chaotic scene.
The probe — conducted by Lebanon, New Hampshire, firm Burgess Loss Prevention Associates — concluded that 12 of 18 allegations against St. Johnsbury officers by citizens were unfounded.
The remaining six allegations were deemed “relevant,” and three of those were substantiated. Half of the 18 allegations, however, were discounted only because citizens either misidentified or could not name which officers were involved.
“It wasn’t anything that I was surprised to see,” Town Manager Chad Whitehead said of the investigator’s findings. “I think that our officers were following policy, and the conclusion of the event was unfortunate, but they did what was appropriate.”
Between 150 and 200 people turned out to demonstrate in St. Johnsbury on June 3, inspired by state and nationwide protests over the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Four people were arrested during the local protest — all on disorderly conduct citations — after a man refused to leave the roadway outside the police department.
As St. Johnsbury officers moved arrestees toward the department, demonstrators formed a line in front of the station’s doorway. One was Carmen Turnbaugh, a 2017 Lyndon Institute graduate.
Lt. Mark Bickford approached the line, placed his hand on Turnbaugh and pushed her out of the way — causing her to stumble and fall backwards down the steps of the police station.
The moment, caught on video shared widely on social media, spurred immediate outrage from the crowd gathered on Main Street. But Bickford and Turnbaugh met a few days later and made amends, each expressing remorse for their actions.
According to the investigation report — first obtained by the Caledonian Record — footage from Bickford’s body-worn camera shows Turnbaugh moving toward him before he touched her.
The video shows Police Chief Tim Page’s right arm behind Turnbaugh, “and a slight forward movement of the Chief’s right arm is observed just as Turnbaugh starts to move.”
Bickford placed his left hand on Turnbaugh’s right shoulder to move her out of the way, according to the report. She was holding a sign over her head at the time, the report says, “further contributing to her instability.”
“As she passed by Bickford, he can be heard saying to her ‘go,’” the report says. “A slight snap of his wrist was observed as he ended contact with her. This occurred as she was losing her balance and falling to the landing.”
Bickford told the investigator, William Burgess, that he made a sweeping motion with his left arm to clear people from the door. The lieutenant estimated the amount of force he used had been a two, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest.
“He described this action as analogous/equivalent to shooing a bee away,” according to the report.
The body camera footage also shows Detective Daniele Kostruba’s left hand move behind Turnbaugh’s left shoulder after Bickford made contact with the woman, the report says.
Bickford told the investigator he did not intend to push Turnbaugh down the stairs. Burgess concluded that the physical contact was a “proper and lawful action.”
A webpage for the investigation’s documents includes no officer’s body-camera footage, nor 37 videos from the police station’s building camera reviewed in the probe.
Along with videos and photographs, the investigator interviewed 14 people and investigated nine written complaints submitted by seven people.
The three substantiated allegations centered on Page, the police chief, not wearing a body camera.
“According to policy, the Chief should have been wearing his body camera,” the investigative report says.
Page told Burgess he does not normally wear a body camera.
“I am seldom involved in any of the day-to-day responses to criminal activity or things of that nature,” the chief said, according to a recording to his interview with Burgess. “And when I am involved, there are officers there that have body cameras on.”
Page explained that body cameras themselves are expensive and so is storing the footage they record.
“I try to make sure that we have video coverage of events, but I don’t try to over-video something because there’s so much expense involved to the town,” he said in explaining why he doesn’t often wear a camera.
He added: “I knew my officers had (cameras). They were going to be videotaping, so I wasn’t really concerned.”
Kostruba, the plain-clothed detective involved in the incident, also was not wearing a body camera.
She said she had left it inside the police station because she was rushing outside to help the chief.
“I didn’t think to even grab anything,” she told Burgess, according to a recording. “I just saw (Page) down there by himself, and I ran down real quick.”
The investigator concluded that Kostruba acted under an exemption in the department’s body-camera policy.
Several complaints alleged that Bickford and Capt. Dale Gray were not wearing cameras. But the investigator concluded they had been.
Several people alleged Gray, Page or Officer Gerald Schartner had been the officer who pushed Turnbaugh, rather than Bickford. Their complaints were labelled unfounded.
Another complaint concerning what happened to Turnbaugh was thrown out because it did not identify an officer.
A few of the complaints also alleged Gray and Page had closed the station doors on people, but the investigation found that neither had been involved in a struggle over the door that occurred after Turnbaugh fell.
Three witnesses who watched the events from across the street told Burgess they believed Turnbaugh’s fall was “dramatic” or “acted.”
Several people who filed complaints, had witnessed or been involved in the incident did not respond to requests for interviews from the investigator, according to Burgess’ report, including Turnbaugh.
In a previous interview with VTDigger and in his interview with Burgess, Page defended his officers’ actions. He said the arrests and crowd control were needed to maintain safety.
“I actually think they went above and beyond,” the chief told Burgess of his officers. “Nobody was excessive … They acted very professionally.”
The investigation cost the town about $6,500, said Whitehead, the town manager.
The town manager expressed dismay that the peaceful protest had devolved.
“Hopefully it doesn’t overshadow the message of the Black Lives Matter protest,” he said.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Investigation: St. J police acted appropriately in BLM protest, except for body-camera violation.