A Vermont State Police officer who shot and wounded a New York state woman last summer in Bristol was justified in firing his weapon, state and local prosecutors ruled Monday.
Separate reviews by Addison County State’s Attorney David Fenster and Attorney General Bill Sorrell concluded that Sgt. Michael Dion met the legal standard when he fired at Tina LaBossiere on Sept. 4. LaBossiere was struck in the abdomen and survived her wounds.
Officers were responding to a call from Norman Michaud of Bristol, who threatened to shoot himself. When they arrived, Michaud had shot himself in the head and LaBoissiere had the gun in her hand, police said. Michaud also survived his wounds.
Police said LaBoissiere ignored their commands to drop the gun and approached them. Dion fired at LaBoissiere when he no longer had protective cover and feared that he or someone else could have been harmed.
According to a news release from the AG’s office, “the legal standard for the use of deadly force is whether the officer reasonably believed that he or a third party was in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury, and that deadly force was necessary to respond to that threat.”
The investigation concluded “that Sgt. Dion was reasonable in his belief that he and his fellow officers were in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury when he fired at Tina LaBossiere, who was holding and waving a gun and continuing to advance in the direction of the officers despite numerous repeated commands to drop the weapon.”
The incident was the fifth officer-involved shooting in 2014.
