BURLINGTON — The City of Burlington has agreed to pay $270,000 to the family of a man shot by police in 2013 without an admission of liability to settle a lawsuit brought by the man’s estate.
Wayne Brunette was shot four times by Burlington Police Officer Ethan Thibault in the New North End in November 2013 after Brunette advanced toward him wielding a shovel, police said.
Officers were responding to a call from Brunette’s mother that her son, who she said was mentally ill, was behaving erratically. Brunette later died of his injuries.
Brunette’s widow, Barbara Brunette, filed the lawsuit in March 2015 against the city, police department and involved officers alleging that Brunette’s constitutional search and seizure rights and the Americans with Disabilities Act were violated.
The lawsuit asked for compensation for pain and suffering and loss of consortium.
In August 2018, most of the claims in the lawsuit were dismissed, including those against the individual officers, according to the Burlington Police Department’s press release announcing the settlement.
But the court allowed the claim that the city had not reasonably accommodated Brunette’s mental disability to move forward, and a trial was scheduled for the fall. The city settled in mediation in April and fulfilled the financial terms of the settlement this week.
Police Chief Brandon del Pozo said in the release that he hoped the settlement would “offer a modicum of closure to Mr. Brunette’s family.”
“Our approach to these types of crises has evolved, and our capacity to safely handle them has multiplied, but we can never guarantee that force won’t be necessary to protect life in these encounters,” he said. “Our commitment, however, is to do everything we can to avoid such a tragic outcome.”
Richard Goldsborough, who represented Brunette’s estate, said that while the excessive force complaints against the officers in the lawsuit were dismissed, the judge allowed a “pretty significant” claim that the police’s response had violated the ADA to move forward.
“It was a known mental health call, and he had four bullets in him within a couple minutes,” he said.
As the ADA claim was heading to trial, both sides agreed that the $270,000 settlement was appropriate, Goldsborough said.
“There’s finally some justice for the family,” he said.
Then-Attorney General Bill Sorrell and then-Chittenden County State’s Attorney TJ Donovan both found that Thibault was justified in shooting Brunette.
Thibault resigned from the department in 2016 after facing domestic violence charges, which were later dropped after he agreed to conditions.
This story has been updated with comment from the attorney for the Brunette estate.