A state trooper shot and wounded a New York woman in Bristol on Thursday, the fifth officer-involved shooting this year, police said.
State Police Col. Thomas L’Esperance said the number of police-involved shootings this year is “a lot.” It reflects a nationwide increase in violent encounters with the police, he said, but the Vermont incidents don’t have a common thread, he said. Seven officers were involved in the five incidents.
There were two officer-involved shootings last year in Vermont, four in 2012, one in 2011 and three in 2010, according to Attorney General Bill Sorrell’s office, which reviews police-involved shootings. Such incidents are also sent to the local state’s attorney’s office.
The number of justifiable shootings nationally by law enforcement officers has also risen, from 378 in 2008 to 410 in 2012 according to the most recent data available from the FBI.
Thursday’s incident began at 8:26 p.m. with a 911 call to Bristol police from Norman Michaud, 54, threatening suicide with a gun. When Bristol police and officers from the Addison County Sheriff’s Department arrived, they reported hearing what they believed to be a gunshot.
State police arrived 10 minutes later and stood in the dark at the end of the driveway of 62 Pine St., police said.
Another man also arrived and told police his mother, Tina LaBossiere of Crown Point, New York, was at the house and had a gun, according to police. Through the son, police told LaBossiere to drop the gun, but she approached the end of the driveway and repeatedly refused to drop the weapon, police said.
State police Sgt. Michael Dion fired his service weapon, hitting LaBossiere in the abdomen, officials said. An ambulance took LaBossiere to Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington. Dion, 37, was placed on paid administrative leave in accordance with state policy, police said. He has been a member of the state police since January 2006.
When police then went down the driveway into the home, they found Michaud lying on the ground outside the home with an apparent gunshot wound to the head, police said. He was also taken to the hospital. There was also a third person at the home, police said. Alcohol was involved with Michaud, he said, but not drugs.
LaBossiere carried a cocked revolver with about a 6- or 8-inch barrel, L’Esperance said. He said he did not know the make and model of the weapon, whether it was loaded, to whom it was registered or whether it was legally obtained. Police on Friday afternoon were still investigating the scene.
“Based upon the way that this rolled out, as quickly as it did, the officer’s choice to use his weapon seems reasonable,” L’Esperance said. Police did not use a Taser or other means to subdue LaBossiere, he said.
The state police commander said troopers’ goal is always to slow a situation down. State police undergo training on how to deal with mental health crises, he said, and sometimes call mental health crisis workers to the scene.
“Even in this instance had we had a mental health crisis worker there based upon what we know now I don’t believe that they could have interacted because of the level of threat that this woman was presenting to everybody in that area,” L’Esperance said.
A bill passed this year that called for a statewide policy on how to use Tasers included an amendment requiring all police officers in the state to receive training on dealing with mentally ill people.
Detectives from the St. Albans office of the state police will investigate the shooting, L’Esperance said. Troopers from the New Haven barracks were those involved in the incident.
The incident was captured on audio and video that will be submitted to the Addison County State’s Attorney’s Office, L’Esperance said. The commissioner of public safety will also conduct an internal policy review, L’Esperance said.
The Attorney General’s Office last month cleared two state troopers who in May shot a man 29 times after he ran a stop sign, led police on a chase and rammed his car into their cruisers.
Other officer-involved shootings this year:
• April 4, Brattleboro: Man shot in motel room;
• April 6, Leicester: Man shoots two troopers, one fires back;
• April 22, Bennington: Officers shoot man in the police station lobby;
• May 28, Barton: Troopers shoot man in his car.
This article was updated at 1:30 a.m. Saturday. A correction to the location of the incident was made in the photo caption at 9:32 a.m. Sunday.
