Vermont Department of Public Safety Commissioner Thomas Anderson has denied a request to release any video or audio state police may have of a shooting involving five troopers during a standoff earlier this month that left a Poultney man dead.
VTDigger had requested the release of any video and audio from state police of the shooting on Sept. 1 in Poultney that killed Michael Battles, 32.
State Police last week denied the request and VTDigger appealed to the commissioner as allowed under Vermont’s Public Records Act. Anderson, in a letter sent late Wednesday afternoon, denied that appeal.
Anderson wrote that any video or audio state police may have of the shooting is part of an ongoing police investigation, and cites an exemption to the Public Records Act that deals with the “detection and investigation of crime.”
The Vermont State Police are investigating the shooting, and once complete, that investigation will be turned over to the Vermont Attorney General’s Office and the Rutland County State’s Attorney Office for review, as is standard procedure in officer-involved shooting in the state. The prosecutors will determine if the use of deadly force was justified.
Police said a standoff involving Battles at a home on Finel Hollow Road in Poultney began on the afternoon of Aug. 31 and stretched into the early morning of Sept. 1. Police say they were trying to arrest Battles on a warrant for aggravated domestic assault and despite many attempts to convince him to leave the residence, he refused.
Around 2 a.m., according to police, Battles pointed a silver revolver from a second-story window of the home and pointed it down at officers below. Five members of the state police tactical team then opened fire, killing Battles. An autopsy the next day showed that Battles suffered a single gunshot wound to his head. Police said they later learned the revolver in Battles’ hand was a BB gun.
Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan said in an earlier interview that he supported the decision by state police to withhold any video or audio of the shooting, also citing the exemption dealing the detection and investigation of a crime.
The American Civil Liberties Union’s Vermont chapter has said they support the “rapid release” of any police footage from officer-involved shooting cases, arguing that the public interest in knowing how officers are using force exceeds any risk to the investigation.
Anderson, in the letter sent late Wednesday afternoon, does not specifically say that the state police have any video or audio of the shooting. Instead, saying that “to the extent that responsive (Department of Safety) records exist, they are properly withheld, and I deny your request.”
He added that the Department of Public Safety consulted with the both the attorney general’s office and the Rutland County state’s attorney office in making the decision and concluded that releasing any audio or video of the shooting could hamper the ongoing investigation.
“Types of interference could include, but are not limited to, the alteration of witness testimony, or influencing or (affecting) a witness’s memory and willingness to cooperate,” Anderson wrote, adding, “The articulated harms are sufficient to justify withholding any DPS video and audio recordings.”
However, he added, the exemption for withholding any DPS video or audio is not “indefinite.”
“(It) is DPS’s current intention to release any video and audio records once the investigation and any resultant enforcement proceeding, if any, are concluded, and after appropropriate consultation with the above-reference prosecuting authorities,” the letter stated.
