Rutland City Police Chief Brian Kilcullen said he is allowing city officers involved a fatal shootout with a suspect to view video footage of the incident, even though Vermont State Police have advised against it.
As a result, it appears state police, who are investigating the shooting, won’t interview those officers since it is that agency’s practice not to interview officers in use-of-force probes if they have reviewed dash or body cam footage of the incident.
Christopher G. Louras, 33, the son of former longtime Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras, was killed, according to police, after exchanging gunfire in downtown Rutland with officers on the morning of Oct. 8 following a short pursuit.
Four officers fired on Louras in the shooting in which he also shot at the officers, according to police. A city cruiser dash cam captured video of the shooting.
Kilcullen said Tuesday that he reached his decision after consulting with several parties, including the city’s legal team. He said he is aware the decision would mean that those officers won’t be interviewed as part of the probe by state police.
“That’s my understanding,” the police chief said.
Maj. Dan Trudeau, head of the state police criminal division, could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
Trudeau did say in a previous interview that state police changed how it investigated use-of-force cases involving officers about a year ago.
The state police no longer interview officers in such cases if they had viewed videos of the incident, citing concerns that those officers may “regurgitate” what they saw on the videos instead of relying on their perceptions at the time.
Asked why he reached a decision that ran counter to the state police request, Kilcullen said Tuesday, “Like I said, I took into account the positions of all the parties involved.”
The police chief said he agreed to allow the viewing of the videos at the request of the union representing city police officers.
Only one of the officers involved in the shooting was a member of the union, Cpl. Elias Anderson. The other two city officers, Sgt. Kenneth Mosher and Sgt. Adam Lucia, both in supervisory positions, are not members of the union.
However, Kilcullen said, he is treating them all the same and providing them all access to the video footage.
Asked if he would have allowed the officers to view the video footage if the union had not made the request, the police chief replied, “No.”
In addition to the three members of the city force, Deputy Chief Ted Washburn of the Rutland Town Police Department was involved in the shootout.
Kilcullen said Tuesday that Washburn had not requested to view the video footage.
Police said earlier on the morning of the shootout, the younger Louras fired shots into the front entrance of the city’s police station. More than an hour later, according to police, Louras was spotted by officers, leading to a short pursuit and the exchange of fire with the officers.
Police said Louras was armed with a Smith & Wesson M&P-15 rifle.
The body of Louras’ cousin, Nicholas Louras, 34, of Rutland, was found later that same day in Salisbury, about a 40-minute drive north of Rutland.
A death certificate stated Nicholas Louras died of gunshot wounds to the head and neck, with his death termed a homicide.
Police have said the deaths of the two cousins are linked. However, police haven’t revealed why they believe there is a connection to the deaths other than the two men are related.
Nicholas Louras is the nephew of both Christopher Louras, the former mayor, and David Allaire, the city’s current mayor.
Rutland is the latest police department to allow its officers to view video footage of an officer-involved shooting.
Last month, it was revealed that the Montpelier Police Department allowed the officer in a fatal shooting in that city in August to view dash cam footage before being questioned by Vermont State Police.
The state police had also requested that the Montpelier Police Department not allow that officer to view the footage. As a result, state police did not interview that officer, Cpl. Chad Bean, as part of its probe.
Montpelier Police Chief Tony Facos said he allowed the officer to review the footage so he could provide an “accurate” account of what took place.
Both the Vermont Attorney General’s Office and the Washington County State’s Attorney’s Office, who conducted separate reviews of the shooting, determined that Bean’s use of deadly force in the shooting of 62-year-old Mark Johnson was justified.
In that case, according to investigators, Johnson pointed a weapon, later determined to be a pellet gun, at the police corporal.
The split between local departments and state police when it comes to use-of-force probes may lead to legislative action.
“This is what has happened so many times over the years, we have local police departments deal with something one way and state police deal with it in another way,” said Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
He said if legislation is needed, he hoped the Vermont Attorney General’s Office or the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council would come forward with a recommendation.
Sears said he hadn’t studied the issue enough to say which approach is best in such cases, but added, “I hope they’ll step in and see how we can have some uniformity on this.”
The senator said he thinks it’s important that all officers be treated the same in such cases, no matter which department they worked for.
“It would seem to me that it would be better to have one unified policy,” he said.
