[A] Hinesburg woman is suing the local Police Department, claiming officers used excessive force and violated her civil rights.
The lawsuit, filed June 21 in federal court in Burlington, focuses on a May 6 incident.
Two officers with the Hinesburg Police Department, Cameron Coltharp and Jeremy Hulshof, responded to a call from the home of Lori Ann Carron.
According to the complaint, the officers were less than a minute from the home when a dispatcher notified them that neither of the people at the home was seriously injured. Carron was not hurt, and her husband had only a scratch on his hand.
The officers were told they didn’t need to go to the home because “things had calmed down,” according to court papers, but they went anyway.
It was not the first time the department had been called to Carron’s residence. According to court papers, officers had been called several times in recent days and knew Carron had mental health issues.
The lawsuit alleges that “without warning or just cause,” Coltharp grabbed Carron, who was sitting quietly, and threw her to the floor. She hit her head, which started bleeding, the suit says. Coltharp then handcuffed her, and she remained cuffed until a supervising officer arrived and removed them, according to the suit.
Video of the incident was posted by the Burlington Free Press.
The lawsuit alleges that because of the police officers’ “illegal and unconstitutional conduct,” Carron “has suffered serious bodily, emotional and psychological injuries.”
Brooks McArthur, a Burlington attorney representing Carron, said in an interview Friday that the incident points to issues with how law enforcement responds to mental health crises.
“It’s in no one’s interest if someone is suffering from a mental health crisis … that they get tackled to the ground and put in handcuffs and injured,” McArthur said.
“The police aren’t allowed to just enter a home and seize someone when no crime has been committed,” McArthur said.
McArthur said the plaintiff is not seeking damages in any particular amount. “She’s certainly seeking to hold these officers accountable,” he said.
The Vermont State Police investigated the incident, according to Lt. Reg Trayah. He said Thursday that the probe is complete and awaiting review.
Hinesburg Police Chief Frank Koss said that once the state police investigation is finished, there will be an internal investigation to see whether officers followed department policies and protocol and what the “mind-set” was at the time of the incident.
He said the incident was called in as a domestic assault situation and officers responded as such.
Koss said he was at the site of the incident and planned to do an internal review regardless of the lawsuit.
Law enforcement and mental health has attracted considerable attention in recent years. In March, a man with mental illness died after being shot by police in Burlington after a standoff lasting hours.
“Anyone can read the news over the last year, five years, 10 years and see a number of different incidents when police used what looks to be excessive force against people with mental illness,” Jay Diaz, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, said Friday.
Diaz said his organization has been concerned about how law enforcement responds to mental health crises for some time.
Though Vermont does have some training in place, it may not be enough, he said. In other parts of the country, some departments are implementing more comprehensive and rigorous mental health training policies.
But the issue goes beyond training for mental health crises, he said. It’s also necessary to look at how officers are trained in using force.
“We may need a state policy on this issue that ensures that our police officers use force the Vermont way,” he said. It should be used only when necessary and when it will be effective to protect individuals and the public, he said.
Cindy Taylor-Patch, director of training at the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council, said the level of training an officer has in dealing with mental health issues depends on where the person received basic training. However, she said, the state is on track to have every law enforcement officer across Vermont complete an eight-hour mental health training course to help inform approaches to mental health crises.
The course emphasizes methods of communication with people who are experiencing crisis, Taylor-Patch said.
“Anybody who’s in crisis we recommend a track of de-escalation,” she said.
The eight-hour training does not address use of force, according to Taylor-Patch. That is addressed extensively in other trainings, she said.
