Officer Christopher Lopez quit the day before he was to be told the department planned to fire him, del Pozo said in a Wednesday news release.
Del Pozo said by phone late Wednesday that police would respond to further questions from the media Thursday.
A deputy Chittenden County state’s attorney had expressed concerns to a Burlington police lieutenant Feb. 13 that Lopez provided false information in a criminal case. A preliminary investigation of those allegations led to Lopez having his badge and gun taken, and he was placed on administrative leave that evening, according to the news release. A disciplinary hearing had been set for Tuesday.
In a sworn affidavit from an October drug possession case, Lopez wrote that he “observed what I know based on my knowledge, training and experience to be the odor of fresh marijuana emanating from the vehicle,” according to a letter from State’s Attorney Sarah George to del Pozo.
The video shows Lopez attempting to turn off his body camera and asking another officer if his camera is off. That officer, identified in the state’s attorney’s letter as Officer Nicholas Rienzi, responds in the affirmative.
Lopez then tells Rienzi that he did not smell marijuana but that he “could if he needs to but I don’t like going that way if I can’t back it up,” according to the letter.
George told police that her office would no longer be able to rely on Lopez as a witness in any criminal cases, “both retroactively and going forward,” because she believed he had made “patently false statements” in his October affidavit, according to the news release.
Chief del Pozo requested on Feb. 15 that Vermont State Police and the Chittenden County state’s attorney conduct a full criminal investigation into Lopez’s conduct in the drug possession case. He also asked for “an investigation into the approximately 32 prior arrests Officer Lopez has made for possession of narcotics and contraband, many of the fact patterns of which are similar,” according to the news release.
State police and the state’s attorney have begun their investigation, according to Wednesday’s release, and the results “will be disclosed to the public by the respective agencies at the appropriate time.”
The Burlington Police Department is conducting an internal investigation into “noncriminal aspects” of the situation. The Burlington Police Commission has been briefed on the incident and is working with the department on “measures to ensure the public is offered a thorough and fair accounting of it that also comports with the due process rights of the people involved,” according to the news release.
Lopez served with the Burlington police since September 2014. Before that he had been with the Baltimore Police Department for two years.
“There is no place for dishonesty within the Burlington Police Department,” said Mayor Miro Weinberger in a statement. “I welcome Chief del Pozo’s prompt action to root out such corrosive officer conduct.”
“The Burlington Police Department is committed to the highest standards of integrity,” del Pozo said in his request for a criminal investigation.
“We have no tolerance for an act that, if proven, will erode the public’s trust in the official statements of our police,” the chief said Wednesday.
